Bizum is a easy and instant mobile payment system which is integrated into our bank application. Thanks to this service, it is possible to make transfers to friends without needing to know the IBAN code of your bank account, simply by entering your mobile phone number or selecting it from our contact list. The money will immediately arrive in the destination account; a convenient and fast way to make payments between friends.
This functionality, with which more than 25 banks in Spain already work, has become one of the most common means of payment between friends in the country.
According to Statista, China, with 350 million users, and the United States, with 60 million, are the countries with the most followers of mobile payments. An application that is setting a trend on the other side of the Atlantic is Venmo, currently owned by PayPal. In the first quarter of 2018 alone, the company moved a whopping $12 billion in transactions. But unlike Bizum, this mobile payment service is not free, they explain from the financial products comparator HelpMyCash.com. If we are interested in making an instant transfer, Venmo applies a 1% commission on the transfer amount.
What has Bizum achieved throughout 2018?
During the last fiscal year, Bizum exceeded its goal: reach the 2.5 million users and exceed 13 million transactions with an average of 54 euros per operation. Likewise, it moved a total of 700 million euros. After launching in 2016, the bizumers have been increasing without stopping. At the end of 2017, the service had one million users and at the end of last year, they managed to reach a record number.
Depending on the platform, services such as Netflix has been part of Bizum's success, since joint payment for services is very common today. Joint payments for dinners, paying for our share of the apartment we share, paying for purchases made by Wallapop, etc. are some of the possibilities that bizumers they have at their disposal.
On the other hand, Bizum's growth in 2018 has also occurred thanks to its donation system to NGOs, in which more than 50 organizations collaborate. The service has achieved more than 10,000 donations with a value of 250,000 euros. Furthermore, thanks to the collaboration agreement with La Marató, the Catalan regional television campaign managed to raise more than 10 million euros, a record figure in cancer research.
Bizum's goal: reach 5 million users in 2019
Ángel Nigorra, general director of Bizum, sets the goal of reaching five million bizumers at the end of 2019. In addition, new services will be implemented in the Bizum system. On the one hand, online shopping, which will allow users to buy online simply by indicating their mobile number, a simple and convenient way to buy online. On the other hand, payments in shops: Bizum will offer mobile payment in establishments, something that many were missing bizumers.
The future of mobile payments
The experts at the comparator HelpMyCash are clear: in a few years, mobile payments will account for more than 50% of transactions, something that is already happening in China, where, according to iResearch, mobile payments have already surpassed cash in use. reaching the figure of 15.4 billion euros in 2018. In the United States, 44% of consumers already use their mobile phone to make purchases in stores according to Jupiter Research. Spain is the sixth country with the highest number of mobile transactions in 2018 according to Statista, with a volume of more than two million users.
Source: PUSHING
