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Vantiv explores the 'omni-consumer of the future'

Friday, September 27, 2013 — 18:19:50 (EDT)

Cincinnati, Sept. 27, 2013 -- Vantiv, Inc. (NYSE: VNTV), a leading provider of payment processing services and related technology solutions for merchants and financial institutions of all sizes, announced today the release of its new, primary research study on the impact of omni-commerce and mobile banking trends on consumers between 18-34 years of age. The company first unveiled its findings on “omni-consumers” during a live webinar for clients last week.

“Vantiv continues to sponsor research on emerging payment trends and innovation within the retail and financial services industries,” said Moira Tamayo, senior vice president of marketing at Vantiv. “Our newest research study regarding omni-commerce shows that the omni-consumer continues to have high expectations for mobile payments. That segment, especially the millennial generation, is a demographic that cannot be ignored.”

During the webinar, industry experts Dean Seifert, senior vice president of product strategy at Vantiv, Ken Paterson, head of research operations at Mercator Advisory Group, and Lorena Harris, vice president of corporate marketing at Vantiv, outlined the continuing demand by young consumers for seamless omni-commerce experiences that include mobile payments.

Each year Vantiv and its research partner Mercator Advisory Group conduct primary research on payment trends. A cross-section of U.S. consumers are asked details about how they currently make payments and how they expect to do so in the future.

To download the full research paper or listen to the full webinar, please visit www.vantiv.com/Insights/Vantiv-Insights/Key-Findings .

Selected research data and insights follows:

Omni-Commerce & Mobile Payments Trends
• Consumers are becoming increasingly mobile, with 56% of respondents owning a smart phone (up 11% from last year) and 27% owning a tablet (up 15% from last year).
• Among Gen Y consumers, smartphone and tablet ownership levels are much higher at 78% and 34% respectively.
• Smartphones are changing the shopping experience as consumers spend an average of 15 minutes using the device for shopping-related activities while in-store.
• 1 in 3 consumers said they are more willing to use mobile payments technologies if they offered rewards similar to today’s credit cards. And for the segment of consumers that download mobile apps, 71% of respondents said they want to use their smartphone to pay at the register.
• 22% of young consumers expect mobile payments to be their preferred method for paying in restaurants by 2018, compared to 13% of consumers in general. These younger consumers are also 11% more likely than other demographic groups to consider mobile payments convenient and prefer them over credit and debit cards.
• While awareness of certain mobile payments technologies has increased, interest in using some of them has declined. For example, while awareness of NFC based payments technology has increased 9%, interest in using it decline by 13% during the same period. Other mobile payments technologies fared slightly better.
• 52% of respondents said that security concerns are behind their lack of interest in using mobile payments technologies. The data shows that of that group, the most concerned demographic group is those 18-34 years old.

Mobile Banking & Prepaid Trends

• Among all consumers, mobile banking activity increased from 16% to 24% over the previous year; among younger consumers it jumped from 36% to 44%.
• Young consumers are more likely than older adults to have purchased any type of prepaid card in the previous year. They are especially interested in general purpose reloadable cards, with 29% of young adults buying those, compared to 19% of 35-64 year-olds and just 3% of seniors.
• Despite a digital preference, Gen Y represents the highest percentage – at 60% – of high volume ATM, branch and call center users.

For more information about the Vantiv Insights series, to replay previous webinars, or to download articles from the Vantiv Resource Library, visit vantiv.com/research. To learn more about Vantiv, please visit vantiv.com or on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube.

About Vantiv, Inc.

Vantiv, Inc. (NYSE: VNTV) is a leading, integrated payment processor differentiated by a single, proprietary technology platform. Vantiv offers a comprehensive suite of traditional and innovative payment processing and technology solutions to merchants and financial institutions of all sizes in the U.S., enabling them to address their payment processing needs through a single provider. We build strong relationships with our customers, helping them become more efficient, more secure and more successful. Vantiv is the third largest merchant acquirer and the largest PIN debit acquirer based on number of transactions in the U.S. The company's growth strategy includes expanding further into high growth payment segments, such as ecommerce, mobile, prepaid and information solutions, and attractive industry verticals, such as business-to-business, government, healthcare and education. For more information, visit www.vantiv.com .

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Source: Company press release.