Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

The report also showed similar increase patterns in the number of retailers where those purchases were made, in addition to an increase in the number of merchant categories frequented.

Some of those over-the-top percentages can be explained by the unusual dynamics of the trial, where consumers were incentivized to make as many purchases possible in a short period of time. Also, the relatively small number of participating retailers forced consumers to hunt out new locations that accepted the payment device.

For some participants, the fact that it was a trial explicitly discouraged them from making purchases beyond the qualifying 12. “This discouraged them from becoming too familiar with the process and, to some extent, dependent on it only to find that they have to go back to the old ways of doing things,” the report said, adding this quote from a consumer participant: “My friend told me about the limited time period, hence, I don’t want to get used to it and then get to know that I have to again move back. It’s too painful a procedure.”

In short, it’s not clear that these numbers would translate to real-world experiences during a full-fledged deployment.

For security, the trial asked the consumer to choose a PIN and was also given three challenge questions: date of birth, postal code and a trial-issued one-time password that was sent—during activation—through SMS.

Among the complaints from participants were the need to have to carry two—or more—phones because most of the higher end consumer devices simply don’t directly support NFC. The report reluctantly embraces temporary placeholder options.

“Handset manufacturers have been slow in manufacturing NFC capable handsets,” the Citibank report said. “Payments providers should consider and invest in alternatives such as NFC stickers, tags, external sleeves/jackets and especially the NFC-enabled micro SD cards that offer the promise of operating with most phone types, empowering the customer with their choice of the handset and cementing the relationship between the customer and the payment provider.”

The study also looked at the kinds of consumers who agreed to participate in the trial and which ones participated the most. The profile included no surprises, especially the fact that many were classified as men between 26 and 35 years old.