**1. Introduction**

Development, adoption, implementation, and acceptance of the latest technologies are critical factors which have largely influenced business administration and management. Companies regard electronic commerce, or simply e-commerce, as the tool with the highest potential nowadays to revolutionize customers' purchasing habits and patterns while also impacting

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

the different communication channels for merchants and their customers. However, some other business activities related to e-commerce are still in an early implementation stage or already maturing, the latter being the case of mobile business and mobile payment [64].

In recent years, mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablets, and laptops have been increasingly approached as means to transmit and receive all kinds of different data. In this sense, these devices have also seen an increase in their use as tools to facilitate the payment of different goods and services using their data transmission and reception capabilities; these payment systems are known as *mobile payments* or, simply, *m-payments*. m-Payment can thus be described as the completion of a financial transaction or purchase between individuals or other entities using a fast, convenient, easy, and secure tool anywhere from a mobile device. These new payment systems enjoy some proven advantages for both merchants and customers over other alternative payment systems such as the electronic point of sales (EPOS). Some of the aforementioned advantages would be (1) high level of adaptability and flexibility when taking into account the large amount of mobile phones and other mobile devices in the market, (2) fast transactions, (3) higher level of comfort and convenience resulting in a time-saving process, (4) possible classification and profiling of the different customers enabling custom strategies for the sale of goods and services, (5) lower cost of operations with reduced discount rates, etc. In the case of customers, the best regarded advantages of these payment systems are (a) the higher level of security of the involved economic transactions thanks to the use of technologies such as Global System for Mobiles (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecom System (UMTS), and, also, the Subscriber's Identity Module (SIM) card of the mobile device allowing for an improved encryption of data transmitted and received during the different transactions; (b) improved reliability of the payment system; (c) improved availability and offering of the goods and services which can be paid with these new tools; (d) reduced queuing and waiting times at the points of sale; and (e) lower rate of occurrence of incorrect transactions [39].

Traditional, single-channel business activities have been continuously evolving into multichannel operations in multiple markets across the world [72], with new retail formats facilitating the interactions between merchants and customers while increasing revenues for the respecting business companies involved [53]. In this sense, the use of smartphones has blurred and even started to eliminate the differences between the online and offline interactions between customers and merchants. The so-called Information Society is seeing a rapidly increasing growth every year; according to a recent report issued by Fundación Telefónica España (2015), mobile telephony reached a level of penetration of 95.5 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants worldwide in 2014 (2.4% raise over 2013), establishing an astonishing figure of over 6.6 billion for the total number of mobile telephony subscribers in the world. In this regard, Europe is the continent with more mobile subscribers (120 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants). Respecting m-payments, according to a report regarding e-commerce issued by the Online Business School [56], 27% of the total of online purchases in 2013 had been completed using one of the mentioned devices; this means a 55% raise over 2013 in the Spanish market. On the other hand, a recent research proposed by PayPal and carried out by an independent marketing research company (IPSOS) [33] concluded that mobile phone commerce saw an estimated growth of around 48% in Spain during that year, a raise rate well above the rate forecasted respecting the growth of online transactions in Spain during the same period of time. This report also found the best regarded features and characteristics that customers appreciate while purchasing goods and services through "smartphones" and "tablets": fast payments (36% of users mentioned this feature as one of the most relevant advantages), not needing to carry a physical wallet (24%),simplification of the payment process (22%), innovativeness nature of the payment system (21%), immediate confirmation of valid payments (20%), easy to use (19%), and, finally, not needing to share personal financial data with the different merchants (16%).

the different communication channels for merchants and their customers. However, some other business activities related to e-commerce are still in an early implementation stage or already maturing, the latter being the case of mobile business and mobile payment [64].

In recent years, mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablets, and laptops have been increasingly approached as means to transmit and receive all kinds of different data. In this sense, these devices have also seen an increase in their use as tools to facilitate the payment of different goods and services using their data transmission and reception capabilities; these payment systems are known as *mobile payments* or, simply, *m-payments*. m-Payment can thus be described as the completion of a financial transaction or purchase between individuals or other entities using a fast, convenient, easy, and secure tool anywhere from a mobile device. These new payment systems enjoy some proven advantages for both merchants and customers over other alternative payment systems such as the electronic point of sales (EPOS). Some of the aforementioned advantages would be (1) high level of adaptability and flexibility when taking into account the large amount of mobile phones and other mobile devices in the market, (2) fast transactions, (3) higher level of comfort and convenience resulting in a time-saving process, (4) possible classification and profiling of the different customers enabling custom strategies for the sale of goods and services, (5) lower cost of operations with reduced discount rates, etc. In the case of customers, the best regarded advantages of these payment systems are (a) the higher level of security of the involved economic transactions thanks to the use of technologies such as Global System for Mobiles (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecom System (UMTS), and, also, the Subscriber's Identity Module (SIM) card of the mobile device allowing for an improved encryption of data transmitted and received during the different transactions; (b) improved reliability of the payment system; (c) improved availability and offering of the goods and services which can be paid with these new tools; (d) reduced queuing and waiting times at the points of sale; and (e) lower rate of

Traditional, single-channel business activities have been continuously evolving into multichannel operations in multiple markets across the world [72], with new retail formats facilitating the interactions between merchants and customers while increasing revenues for the respecting business companies involved [53]. In this sense, the use of smartphones has blurred and even started to eliminate the differences between the online and offline interactions between customers and merchants. The so-called Information Society is seeing a rapidly increasing growth every year; according to a recent report issued by Fundación Telefónica España (2015), mobile telephony reached a level of penetration of 95.5 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants worldwide in 2014 (2.4% raise over 2013), establishing an astonishing figure of over 6.6 billion for the total number of mobile telephony subscribers in the world. In this regard, Europe is the continent with more mobile subscribers (120 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants). Respecting m-payments, according to a report regarding e-commerce issued by the Online Business School [56], 27% of the total of online purchases in 2013 had been completed using one of the mentioned devices; this means a 55% raise over 2013 in the Spanish market. On the other hand, a recent research proposed by PayPal and carried out by an independent marketing research company (IPSOS) [33] concluded that mobile phone commerce saw an estimated growth of around 48% in Spain during that year, a raise rate well above the rate forecasted respecting the growth of online transactions in Spain during the same period of time. This report also found the best regarded

occurrence of incorrect transactions [39].

114 Smartphones from an Applied Research Perspective

On a side note, the use of mobile payments is also seeing a considerable growth as reported by Capgemini [7] in their World Retail Banking Report analysis. In this sense, it is worth noting that this report found "only" 1.3 billion credit and debit active accounts as opposed to the remarkable statistics identifying well over 5 billion active mobile telephony subscriptions. According to Omlis (a provider of mobile payment solutions), this is an ideal, relevant scenario for a potential and major application of mobile payments. Juniper Research predicted that the number of users of mobile payment systems in 2013 (245 million) would duplicate by 2017 seeing a total number of over 450 million of users of mobile payments. Respecting the value of the *m-commerce* market, the market research company Gartner estimated a total amount of \$507 billion accountable for mobile phone transactions in 2014. Therefore, all these studies show that the worldwide rate of adoption of mobile payments is also increasing rapidly, with some specific mediators influencing this increase such as the different tools available to consumers in order to access the new technologies, changes in lifestyle trends, and other economic factors.

From the perspective of the merchants and their offerings, according to a report issued by Tecnocom [70] on the different trends regarding payment systems, this report affirms that after assessing the actual demand of users respecting the different electronic payment systems in the case of the Spanish market, the use of mobile phone payments did not manage to establish itself as a particular strong alternative to the use of other systems. The information collected through the aforementioned reports and research allows observing certain differences between the needs of the users/customers regarding their purchases and the speed at which the market is adapting to said needs. In light of all of these findings, the main purpose of this research is to assess and evaluate the different factors influencing mobile payment from the perspective of the merchants through an exploratory, qualitative, and quantitative analysis (including a comprehensive literature review and approaching, focus groups, and indepth interviews) aimed to identify the drivers and barriers to the use of the different mobile payment tools at the points of sale. This study also incorporates a section discussing conclusions and implications drawn from the results in order to overcome some of the identified deterrents while also proposing suggestions for future research opportunities.
