Online payments

[Dave Birch] I was involved in a discussion yesterday about young persons’ use of financial services. Thinking about payments, I remembered that our good friends at Payments News ran a Facebook poll on online payment choices amongst young persons. It basically came down to around a third credit card, a third debit card and a third Paypal (within the bounds of statistical error). They point out that it’s no surprise that the debit card is most favored among this age group, but also remark on how PayPal’s showing is also especially strong. New entrant Google Checkout barely moves the needle in this particular survey and almost no one likes to pay by providing their checking account details (also known as eCheck).

Technorati Tags: credit cards, debit cards, internet, payments

I’m sure this supports Javelin’s conclusions that younger persons think differently about payments and because more profits will be coming from their purses, wallets, Internet connections and even mobile devices, payments and financial services companies need to understand where the crucial differences are and what to do about them. One crucial difference that might be apparent in the Facebook case is that these consumers don’t distinguish between banks, non-banks and third-party offerings. They go by convenience, utility and brand. And brand is so, so important.

These opinions are my own (I think) and presented solely in my capacity as an interested member of the general public [posted with ecto]