M-commerce payments boosted by coronavirus effect on eWallets

M-commerce payments will reach $3.1 trillion in 2025, from $2.1 trillion in 2020, according to Juniper Research.

The coronavirus pandemic’s massive boost to digital wallet services in the offline arena with OEM Pay has been a key driver here.

The two single largest e-commerce markets, China and the US, will see volume growth in smartphone payments for remote goods of 55% and 74% respectively, between 2020 and 2025.

In China, eWallet payments are well established, with e-commerce continuing to grow. In the US, OEM Pay wallets and PayPal will be the major beneficiaries of a permanent pandemic driven shift to online shopping.

Buy now, pay later services

This uptick in m-commerce will translate into rapid growth of new payment models, such as buy now, pay later.

Deploying BNPL via APIs in checkout processes will mean a significant shift away from traditional fee- and APR-based credit card models of consumer financing for online purchases, particularly amongst Millennials less convinced of the benefits of credit card ownership.

BNPL also offers advantages to merchants as a way to increase average basket size, whilst boosting the user experience for shoppers.

Juniper Research’s Susannah Hampton comments: “It is critical for payment processors to prioritise building technological ecosystems to allow the acceptance of BNPL across all payment methods, or they will be left behind by more digitally adept providers.”