Mobile payments in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands - statistics & facts
Mobile payment apps are pieces of software developed for the ease of making payments on smartphones and tablet devices. This includes mobile wallets, such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay, as well as specifically designed apps from banks or retail companies. The user clicks directly on the app to pay, as opposed to online banking or logging on with a web browser to a web store. Conducting so-called contactless payments or NFC payments is another way of doing mobile payments, either with a smartphone app or with a debit or credit card. On a global level, the mobile wallet competition has intensified due to banks entering the market alongside third-party wallets and retailer payment apps. This also showed in the Benelux region. In 2017, for example, the frequency of the use of cash money in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands was lower than the European average. 20 percent of Belgian respondents indicated the last time they used cash money was last week, compared to 13 percent among European consumers. In addition, the number of available mobile payment apps in the Benelux countries steadily increased due to domestic banks being involved in their development.
