Digital Payments Market to Leave Growing Pains Behind in 2016

LONDON, November 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

The "year of alternate payments" will see consumers dictating which payment technologies gain buy-in from merchants in an overcrowded market 

Worldpay predicts that the digital payments market will leave its growing pains behind in 2016. The payments leader says next year will herald "the third age of digital payments" now that eWallets are growing in popularity, NFC offerings from technology vendors like Apple, Samsung, and Google are fighting for mass appeal, and both banks and brands are rolling out their own mobile payment apps to compete for consumer loyalty.

2016 will also be a breakthrough year for Alternative Payment Methods (APMs), Worldpay predicts. In its latest Global Payment Report, Worldpay found that APMs inched past card payments for the first time ever with 51% of market share. Worldpay predicts this gap will widen in 2016 and beyond as more consumers opt for the convenience of "e" payment options over traditional plastic.

The report also predicts that eWallets will overtake credit cards in the global eCommerce market by 2019, accounting for 27% of global turnover compared with credit cards' 24%. Additional APMs will account for a significant portion of the remaining market alongside traditional debit card, bank transfer and cash payments.

Worldpay also expects eWallets to come of age over the next five years, and consumers to play the largest role in dictating which payment technologies come out on top in an increasingly crowded and confusing environment.

Yvonne Tan, Senior Alliances Manager, Alternative Payments at Worldpay said: "The first age of digital payments kicked off with the eCommerce boom in the early 2000s when companies like PayPal and AliPay introduced eWallets to the mainstream. The second phase coincided with the rise of the smartphone at the beginning of the decade, and we've since seen a proliferation of new mobile apps that quickly raised the bar for convenience in payments."

Tan added: "However, with so many options being rolled out so quickly, a sense of app fatigue has begun to set in leaving both consumers and merchants unsure of which approach is best and questioning the convenience of using multiple eWallets. I expect the next few years will see a consolidation of the market as the public hones in on their preferred payment methods and conscientious merchants feel more confident buying into technologies that their customers have already embraced."

About the data: 

The Global Payments Report was compiled using a combination of Worldpay's data and insights, external findings from Euromonitor, Datamonitor and ystats.com, and secondary data from over 100 independent sources. The forward-looking statements and figures contained in the report are indicative predictions based on Worldpay's own data and experience and should be treated as such.

For the full report visit:  

Global Payments Report

About Worldpay:  

Worldpay is a leader in global payments, processing millions of transactions every day. We provide an end-to-end service including card acquiring, treasury, gateway, alternative payments and risk management, all of which can be provided with a single integration to Worldpay. We make global payments simple for many of the world's leading organisations.

http://www.worldpay.com/global

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