Lenexa, Kan.: Results from the 2015 Payment Safety Survey reveal that despite many retailers and banks announcing various steps to improve payment safety, shoppers’ confidence in safely using their debit or credit cards at the grocery store did not improve over the past year.

Balance Innovations first measured the nation’s confidence in payment safety in January 2014 — immediately following mass data breaches at numerous nationwide retailers. As data breaches continued, the January 2015 payment safety survey found a slight drop in confidence, with fewer shoppers saying they were “very confident,” down from 39 percent to 35 percent. Instead, more people were just “somewhat” or “not too confident.”

The recent survey of 1,341 shoppers revealed that payment safety confidence was notably higher among millennials, 49 percent of whom said they were very confident. This is in contrast to just 30 percent of those aged 45 to 60.

Additional insights from the survey include:
• The share of shoppers who made changes to their typical way of paying for groceries as a result of data breaches dropped slightly from 41 percent in 2014 to 39 percent in 2015.

• Among smartphone owners (75 percent of shoppers), two-thirds had no plans to make mobile payments any time soon — underscoring the slow rate of adoption to date.

• About one in seven smartphone owners thought they might start making mobile payments later this year.

“The last touch point a retailer has with a customer is at the time of a purchase, making the payment process an important part of the shopping experience,” said Scott Young, executive vice president of sales and development. “It is important to have a variety of payment options available. Retailers must take steps to ensure the payment process is convenient and secure for the shopper and efficient for the retailer.”
The report was prepared by 210 Analytics, LLC, and can be found on the Balance Innovations website, along with other recent research pieces by the company.