The world is becoming more mobile, with people spending more time on their phones. Last year, 52.2% of all global website traffic was generated through mobile phones. So you’d probably think people are buying more things on their phones, right? The answer may surprise you.

“We’ve been sharing some early results about mobile optimization,” said Jenny Cheng (pictured), vice president of global professional services at PayPal Holdings Inc. “And what we’re finding is, even though engagement is going up from a mobile phone, the revenue is not there.”

Cheng spoke with Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick) and Lisa Martin (@LisaMartinTV), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Imagine event in Las Vegas. They discussed reasons people still don’t want to purchase things off a mobile device and ways PayPal is innovating to make sure users can get their money quickly (see the full interview with transcript here). (* Disclosure below.)

Making it easy to get access to your money

So why aren’t people purchasing more things on their mobile devices? There are a few reasons why people still struggle to connect with e-commerce on a smartphone. One reason is that people tend to be much more distracted when on a mobile device — they are usually in line at a grocery store or waiting to pick up the kids from a soccer game, and they aren’t as focused on making sure things get done because they are easily interrupted, according to Cheng.

“One of the things we talk a lot about is removing that friction. So how do you make it really easy?” Cheng explained. “So if you’re able to store your credentials, if you’re able to make it simple to check out … that’s ultimately the goal for a lot of our merchants here — which is: when we’ve got you, we’ve got to capitalize on your attention … at that moment in time and make it super easy for you to convert.”

For instance, platforms can use artificial intelligence and machine learning to be able to help people remember if they’ve placed something in an online shopping cart. Another way to make the process more streamlined is to partner with other businesses to make things more accessible for customers. In fact, PayPal recently partnered with Walmart Inc. to allows customers to withdraw cash directly from their PayPal account from a Walmart check-out counter.

“In your PayPal app, you bring up a unique barcode, you can go into a Walmart store, and essentially, like a debit card, it debits it out of your PayPal account, and the Walmart cashier hands you the cash,” Cheng said. “Which is super convenient … and an easy way to get to your money if you need something immediately. So, I’m really excited and proud of that.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Imagine 2019 event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the Imagine 2019 event. Neither Adobe Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE