• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, April 15, 2015

While many merchants support various aspects of mobile commerce, most of them say the primary way consumers actually pay ultimately is through a credit card.

And the distant second choice is paying by PayPal, according to a new survey.

With all the mobile choices available, 63% of consumers prefer to pay by credit card, according to a survey around mobile payments and fraud conducted via Survey Monkey, and commissioned by CardNotPresent, The Fraud Practice and Kount.

The survey comprised an online questionnaire sent to 1,500 people who work in the payment ecosystems, including merchants and service providers.

The survey was global with the majority of those surveyed located in North America and half of those surveyed in companies with more than $50 million in annual revenue.

Organizations identified several of the biggest obstacles to mobile adoption, according to the survey. They are:

• 28% -- Making it easier for consumers to transact vs. just shopping
• 24% -- Addressing consumer security concerns with the platform
• 20% -- Managing complexity of new payment types
• 14% -- Making it possible to take payments more efficiently
• 11% -- Addressing how to manage fraud risk

In addition to the obstacles, there are noted gaps in what merchants even know.

For example, just over half (57%) can identify if a mobile device is being used for a transaction  and only 17% of those can detect what type of device it is, ranging from a smartphone to a game console.

Meanwhile, 43% of merchants cannot detect if a mobile device is being used in a transaction.

When asked how important it was to be able to recognize mobile devices in a transaction, the majority (90%) see it as important, with 43% of them saying it is very important.

The challenge in moving mobile commerce forward is primarily about closing gaps.