Mobile phone and tablet users will make 195 billion mobile commerce transactions annually by 2019, up from 72 billion this year, according to a new report from Juniper Research. 

The highest growth rates are expected in the NFC sector, according to the report "Mobile Commerce Markets: Key Sector Strategies, Opportunities & Forecasts 2014–2019." Apple Pay is expected to drive NFC purchases together with a host of anticipated deployments by banks using solutions based on HCE technology.

The highest net increase in transaction volumes, however, will occur in the digital goods sector, fueled by a surge in micropayments for in-app purchases, notably within arenas such as social gaming. The report highlighted the opportunity for digital content monetization presented by direct carrier billing, particularly within underbanked regions and demographics.

"Storefronts that have deployed carrier billing solutions have already seen positive results across a range of indicators - higher conversion rates, higher average transaction values, higher transaction volumes," Dr. Windsor Holden, the report's author, said in a statement. "For the first time, they can monetize consumers who would otherwise have been excluded either because they lacked a credit card or because they were unwilling to enter card details online."

'Pent-up demand' for m-ticketing

Meanwhile, the report observed that many mobile ticketing deployments had seen rapid adoption rates immediately post-launch, suggesting a pent-up demand for such services. In the U.S., MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority)'s mTicket accounted for 15 percent of ticket sales within nine months of launch, while New York Waterways has reached 25 percent in less than two years.

Other findings from the report include:

• There is significant transactional migration from desktop to mobile as consumers increasingly "media stack" (i.e., make purchases on their devices while watching TV); and
• rather than focusing purely on payments, stakeholders need to emphasise the synergies between mobile payment and loyalty to persuade retailers to become engaged.

A whitepaper is available summarizing the report.