The study, conducted by Visa with 12,015 European consumers, found that one in four Brits expects to use their mobile phone to make payments on a daily basis by 2020, growing from the one in 12 who do so already today. 

Consumer adoption of mobile payments will grow faster than ever in the next five years, says Visa Europe, with six in ten Britons (60%) expecting to use their mobile devices for payments at least once a week by 2020. 

The average shopper expects to spend £27 on mobile each week by 2020, £10 more than is spent today. Nearly a quarter of respondents predict they will spend more than £50 a week using their mobile device by 2020.

Jeremy Nicholds, executive director of mobile at Visa Europe, believes the numbers underestimate the impact of mobile payments as more and more Brits become comfortable with contactless payment options on the high street. 

"We at Visa think those numbers could be rather conservative and that the actual adoption rate will be much higher," he says. "This is particularly true when you look at the growth in contactless usage, which saw European usage grow by 2x and spend grow by 3x over the last 12 months. Contactless and online commerce enhancements have been key in paving the way for the next generation of mobile payment technology. For us the next 12 months are when mobile payments become mainstream.”

According to figures released by the UK Cards Association today, Brits spent more than £600 billion on cards last year, with the number of purchases made with plastic soaring thanks in part to the rapidly growing popularity of contactless payments.

Earlier this month, payment processor Worldpay announced that it has processed over £2 billion of contactless payments, with transactions jumping by more than 49% in the last six months.

Says Nicholds: “When it comes to money, concerns over control and security are understandable though a simple lack of knowledge is often an underlying cause, and consumers are quick to see the benefits of convenience. We’ve seen this with contactless card adoption - once people learn about the technology, see others using it and get used to paying with it, usage soars.”