According to the press release, Mastercard’s global study was conducted in 15 markets, and revealed that consumers are increasingly moving away from cash, while opting for contact-free and digital payments experiences. Ecommerce is also seeing a surge, with Mastercard SpendingPulse reporting growth across the globe, as consumers increasingly shop online. Moreover, as consumers’ payment behaviours evolve, two notable trends emerge in the research.

Firstly, a cashless payments increase was observed in-store, as almost seven in 10 consumers say the shift to digital payments will likely be permanent, and nearly half of consumers plan to use cash less, even after the pandemic subsides Moreover, since the pandemic began, nearly half of respondents (46%) in APAC said they are using cashless payments often, while in LATAM two-thirds of consumers are using the same method. In Europe, which already had the largest adoption of contactless payments of any region, 64% say ‘tap and pay’ is now their preferred way to pay in-store.

Secondly, a steep increase in ecommerce was noticed, as highlighted in Mastercard’s newly released Recovery Insights: Shift to Digital report. Therefore, Mastercard SpendingPulse, which measures retail sales across all payment types including cash and check, shows that US-based ecommerce spending grew by 93% year-over-year in May 2020.