• Average Brit spends 9% of their disposable income via mobile payment devices
• Millennials are keen adopters of new payment tech: 80% would consider using mobile payment methods in-store compared to just 44% of over 55s
• Almost a quarter (24%) of Brits expected to shop with wearable tech by 2026
• A quarter (27%) would also take drone deliveries from retailers

Brits are spending an average of £36.76 of their monthly disposable income via their mobile devices, new research from VoucherCodes.co.uk has revealed. This adds up to a huge £1.46 billion spent using mobile technology like smartphones, tablets and mobile apps such as ApplePay in the UK every month*.

Digitally savvy younger generations are leading the charge in mobile payment adoption, with those aged 18 to 24 already spending £67.59 of their monthly disposable income via their mobile devices, compared to just £16.89 of those aged 55 and over. Men are over twice as likely as women to shop using mobile payments in store (12 per cent vs 5 per cent).

Although a modest number of Brits (8 per cent) are currently using mobile payments in store, this number is set to rise to over one in four (27 per cent) in the next five years. Millennials, as ever, are the most willing to embrace payment innovations with only one in five (21 per cent) of 18 to 34 year olds reporting that they will never use mobile payments. This is in stark contrast to their parents’ generation, the 55 and overs, of whom more than half (56 per cent) said that they will never adopt this technology.

Futuristic retail

The future for wearable tech such as smart watches in the retail sector also looks bright, with the research revealing that 24 per cent of Brits are set to embrace wearable shopping by 2026, up from a mere 4 per cent adoption rate now.

The research also found:

• Nearly half (45 per cent) of consumers would use fingerprint payments in store
• Over a quarter (27 per cent) of Brits would take drone deliveries
• Almost a third (29 per cent) would use augmented reality – such as VR headsets – to try on clothes whilst shopping

High tech high street

By far the most popular development on the high tech high street has been retailers offering in store Wi-Fi, with over a third (35 per cent) of Brits currently making use of this service. Other high street technologies on course for a boost in popularity include Click & Collect delivery, as nearly half of Brits (49 per cent) claim they currently use the technology, with another 18 per cent set to use the service within the next decade.

Claire Davenport, Managing Director at VoucherCodes.co.uk says: “These findings show that consumers are really warming to the increasingly innovative new shopping technologies being introduced to the British high street and this trend is only set to continue as the tech becomes more widely adopted.

“Unsurprisingly, younger generations who are more digitally savvy are the most enthusiastic to adopt new technology.  It is vital that retailers evolve their digital offering to meet consumer demand, especially for services that many Brits view as standard such as in store Wi-Fi. With recent research finding only 29%** of the UK’s top 50 retailers offer in store Wi-Fi to their customers at present, the British high street still has a way to go to catch up to customer expectations.”