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Global digital wallet transactions set to soar
Payments using mobile phones are set to soar globally as suppliers expand the services available, according to research
The value of digital wallet payments will be more than $12tn in 2026, as more payment types are added.
According to Juniper Research, this will amount to a 60% rise on 2022, when $7.5tn is expected to be transacted on digital wallets, which sit on smartphones.
Juniper found that acceptance of digital wallets by merchants is on the up and that application programming interfaces will increasingly connect banks, enabling international growth through large, cross-border ecommerce merchants.
New products being introduced by mobile wallet suppliers will include buy now, pay later offerings on digital wallets, as well as the ability to use cryptocurrencies.
Juniper said PayPal is the leading digital wallet provider, followed by Alipay, WeChat Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Juniper researcher and co-author of the report, Damla Sat, said the digital wallet market is heavily saturated, and that differentiation is important to suppliers.
“We have ranked PayPal as an established leader as it has successfully grown an expansive, differentiated offering; leveraging its strong merchant acceptance by expanding quickly into buy now, pay later and QR code payments, as well as signing partnerships with key merchants to scale its innovative solutions.”
Read more about mobile payments
- In the spring, Stripe will become the first payment platform to support Tap to Pay for contactless credit and debit cards and digital wallets. Shopify’s POS app uses Stripe.
- The Covid-19 pandemic has affected a lot of B2C industries and one aspect of customer experience that is likely permanently shifting is the increase in mobile wallet adoption.
- Juniper Research study predicts that biometric technology will be present on 90% of smartphones in five years’ time.
Digital payments technologies received an unexpected boost in demand during the height of the pandemic, when the government set rules to prevent physical contact and consumers were forced to use digital services.
In 2021, PayPal said the pandemic led to a 24% spike in total active customer accounts, as consumers turned to online shopping in growing numbers.
