The Global Payment Cards Data and Forecasts to 2022, an annual survey of global payment cards from RBR, reveals that the total number of ecommerce card payments made worldwide in 2016 was up 28% compared to 2015 and represented 9% of all card payments. It forecasts that by 2022, 14% of all card payments will be made online.
The main drivers of increasing ecommerce usage include the Internet penetration and smartphone use, while the number of merchants with an online presence is also rising.
Ecommerce allows customers to make impulse buys on the move via mobile, and the prevalence of one-click checkouts and suggested additional items has sped up and increased the number of transactions.
Various factors still affect growth in ecommerce card payments. In some countries, domestic scheme cards are not accepted online, while in developing markets access to the Internet can sometimes be sporadic.
Cash-on-delivery is still used for goods bought online in a number of countries, as consumers do not always have access to online payment methods, or may be worried their items will not be delivered or want to inspect them prior to payment.
In western Europe and Asia-Pacific, 14% and 13% of card payments respectively are made online. In central and eastern Europe and the Middle East and Africa, however, this share is only 3%.
In the former, people in the larger markets still have a preference for cash-on-delivery, while in the latter, lack of infrastructure is a major factor.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now