MasterCard says customers want online acceptance of debit cards
A large majority of MasterCard debit cardholders, 84%, who go online say it’s "extremely important" or "very important" to them to have multi-channel acceptance for debit card purchases, covering Internet retailers and catalogers as well as brick-and-mortar stores, MasterCard says.
"Consumers feel very strongly about having the debit payment option available to them when making purchases," said Fred P. Gore, senior vice president of North America Acceptance for MasterCard. "If consumers are denied the opportunity to use their debit cards as they see fit, either by entering a PIN or signing a receipt, merchants might very well lose sales or see consumers use an alternate, more expensive, form of payment, such as checks."
MasterCard based its comments on a study it commissioned by Harris Interactive, which surveyed 1,476 debit card users Dec. 3-5, 2003. It said the Harris study complemented results of an earlier study by the American Bankers Association, which noted that debit cards showed the sharpest growth in use by consumers, accounting for 31% of in-store payments in 2003, up from 21% in 1999.
Visa, meanwhile, reported recently that online purchases made with Visa debit cards accounted for 402.4 million e-commerce transactions in 2003, up 67.9% from 239.7 million in 2002. By comparison, it said, Visa credit cards showed a 35.2% increase in online transactions in 2003 over 2002, to 494.2 million from 365.2 million.
Visa also noted that the value of e-commerce transactions on Visa debit cards in 2003 rose 71.5% over 2002, to $21.8 billion from $12.7 billion, while the value of online e-commerce transactions on Visa credit cards rose 47.8%, to $44 billion from $29.8 billion. Visa factored in all types of e-commerce transactions, including travel and utility bill payments as well as retail sales.
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