The United Kingdom, with a sizable

economy, large household spend,

and a developed infrastructure,

presents a very attractive picture

for mobile payments readiness, as

shown in its total score of 37.5 on

the MasterCard Mobile Payments

Readiness Index. Among its most

attractive features is the intuitive

distribution of familiarity, willingness,

and usage of mobile payments by type

across demographic segments, which

lays out an easy-to-follow road map

for marketing mobile payments. It only

remains for issuers, telcos, and other

players to connect the dots.

SUMMARY

COUNTRY OVERVIEW

Mobile Payments Readiness Index

mobilereadiness.mastercard.com/unitedkingdom

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The United Kingdom is heavily carded (38% compared with an Index average of 28%)

Mass market consumers are familiar with and using mobile P2P payments

The United Kingdom is very active in partnerships and joint ventures

Mobile Commerce Clusters Consumer Readiness

Financial Services

Regulation

Environment

Infrastructure

37.5

The size and velocity of the economy

in the United Kingdom combined with

an especially vibrant partnership scene

is reflected in a high Mobile Commerce

Cluster score. Barclaycard, Orange,

and MasterCard have teamed up for the

Orange Credit Card, while Telefonica O2

and Vodafone have joined forces to develop

mobile NFC payments at POS in 2012.

Market Forces

UNITED KINGDOM

Internet penetration

Mobile phone prevalence*

Smartphone penetration

United Kingdom Index Average

Tablet penetration

85% 90% 33%11%

MOBILE READINESS FACTORS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Country Score Index Average

*Calibrated to the highest country average

INDEX AVG 33.2

Leading Country ScoreIndex AverageCountry Score

P2P POS m-commFAMILIAR

WILLINGP2P POS m-comm P2P POS m-comm

USING

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE ON CONSUMER SENTIMENT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

16%14%

32%20%

8%4%

13%9%

5%5%

16%11%

19%13%

25%21%

17%16%

To view this data in more detail, visit mobilereadiness.mastercard.com/unitedkingdom

Mobile Payments Readiness Index

mobilereadiness.mastercard.com/unitedkingdom

View Data Sources at mobilereadiness.mastercard.com/about

UK household expenditure per capita

at $24,000 is (along with France’s

and Germany’s) among the highest

in Europe; it compares globally with an

average household expenditure of $11,015

per capita. Eighty-five percent of the

population has access to the Internet, and

mobile phone penetration is 90 percent,

as compared to an Index average of 67

percent. Smartphone penetration in the

United Kingdom is 33 percent, compared

to an Index average of 27 percent, while

tablet penetration is 11 percent.

UK familiarity, willingness, and usage

each skews male, and in addition

skews relatively young—with one

interesting exception. Money transfer,

or P2P, skews up to age 49 in familiarity,

a reflection of the United Kingdom’s large

expat and immigrant population. But

what’s especially noteworthy in the United

Kingdom is the segmentation according

to income evinced in the market research.

P2P skews toward mass market in both

usage and familiarity, while it skews toward

high income in willingness. M-commerce,

which also scores strongly in usage among

UK consumers—32 percent in terms

of familiarity and 13 percent in terms of

usage—skews toward high income in

usage as well as familiarity and willingness.

If this isn’t a marketing plan in a box, it at

least shows the way forward.

Consumer Sentiment

MASTERCARD CONCLUSION

MasterCard believes the United

Kingdom is likely to be the testing

ground for mobile payments in

Europe. In some ways this sets up an

unfair comparison, because in terms

of financial services and culture (credit

card penetration as well as debit card

usage are key), the United Kingdom

much more closely resembles the

United States, Canada, and Australia

than it does Germany, France,

and Italy. This resemblance only

strengthens the case that the United

Kingdom has all the ingredients for a

leading position in advancing mobile

payments.

UNITED KINGDOM

37.5