E-wallets to rival cards as most popular online payment type

Alternative online payments are to overtake credit and debit card payments

globally by 2017, according to WorldPay’s ‘Your Global Guide to Alternative Payments’ report.

The study found online purchases made using alternative payments, any form of payment other than credit or debit cards known as e-wallets, will rise to 59 percent in 2017, from 43 percent in 2012. While card payment market share, including credit and debit, will decline from 57 percent in 2012 to 41 percent in 2017.

It predicts that e-wallets will equal cards as the most popular payment method, with each predicted to have a 41 percent share of the overall payments market. In 2012, 295 billion dollars was processed through e-wallet payments, and the report states that this is set to rise to 1,656 billion dollars by 2017.

The report outlines that PayPal remains the most popular e-wallet payment with 57 percent market share, while China’s Alipay is in second place with 20 percent. It also noted that card-based e-wallets such as V.me by Visa will have a 25 percent share of the card market by 2017.

In the UK, 78 percent of British consumers are still mainly using cards to pay for goods and services online, however, e-wallets is the next most popular method at 16.2 percent.

Kevin Dallas, chief product and marketing officer, e-commerce at WorldPay, said: “Emerging economies, such as the Bric countries and the next layer of emerging markets, are seeing particularly fast growth of alternative payments. This means the complexity of the payment landscape will increase further.

“Merchants will need to ensure they understand diverging regional and sector trends. It’s crucial that online merchants work with a payment provider with specialist knowledge of the complicated alternative payment landscape.”