Three decades ago, a group of researchers proposed a new way to use a network of interconnected computers mostly used at universities, and called it the “Internet”. This new means of looking up and sharing information has later spread to all corners of the globe and changed our lives fundamentally. Today, the internet is used for everything between keeping in touch to reading the news and looking for entertainment, mostly using small but powerful computers that fit into our pockets. And shopping – lots of shopping.
According to eMarketer’s Global Ecommerce 2019 report, people will spend around $3.5 trillion online this year, and this number will grow to around $5 trillion by 2021, with the number of people shopping online exceeding 2.14 billion by that time. This, of course, translates into a lot of money changing hands – let’s take a look at what are the most-used payment methods in eCommerce today.
E-Wallets
According to Worldpay’s “Global Payments Report 2018”, e-wallets are now used by more online shoppers than credit and debit cards combined (36% in 2018 compared to 35%). Digital wallets were the go-to payment methods used by online casinos but were adopted a bit slower by online merchants but today, driven especially by Asian shoppers, they became the dominant payment method in eCommerce. Their spread is not uniform, though – credit cards are still the go-to payment method in North America and Latin America.
Among the most-used online payment solutions, we find veterans like PayPal and Skrill along with China’s Alipay.
Credit and debit cards
Although they come second after digital payment solutions, credit and debit cards are still among the preferred payment methods in eCommerce – even if their use is declining as we speak. Their use may be slowly declining online but they are becoming more popular in real life, slowly replacing cash in grocery stores and supermarkets. According to Worldpay, credit and debit cards will be used in just 28% of the eCommerce transactions by the year 2022 – globally, that is. In North America, their decline will be slower, while in the Asia-Pacific region, the use of “plastic” will decrease fast, to just 14% of the transactions.
Bank transfer
Direct bank transfers are usually preferred by companies rather than individuals in many areas but they are still the third-most-used payment method online. This is probably due to the ease of handling transfers through secure internet banking. Worldpay’s numbers show that around 11% of the online transactions are paid for using this method, and this percentage is expected to remain mostly unchanged in the coming years. Among the factors contributing to the ongoing popularity of this payment method, we find lower chargebacks for the merchants and a significant rise in the number of people actually having a bank account in emerging markets. This is also one of the easiest and fastest way of sending money anywhere.
Other payment methods
“Cash on delivery” is one of the go-to payment methods in local eCommerce – where people order their products online and pay cash to the deliveryman upon its arrival. This method was used in about 5% of all transactions globally in 2018. While it will not completely disappear, its use will decline in time, to 3% of the global transactions by 2022. Methods like PostPay and eInvoices that are used by only a small percentage of customers today will still exist. At the same time, PrePay (where the buyer sends the money before the product is shipped) will be completely gone due to the speed and security of electronic payment methods.
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Featured Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay.