“Global Alternative Online Payment Methods: Second Half 2016” is the title of the latest publication from yStats.com, a leading Germany-based secondary market research organization with a focus on E-Commerce and Online Payments. Their newest report covers the recent trends in global online payments, including a major shift from traditional online payment by credit cards to the use of alternative methods, such as E-Wallet, bank transfer, direct debit, invoice, cash on delivery, and others.
Payment by credit card no longer dominates the global E-Commerce market, according to the findings of the yStats.com report. Due to the rising contribution of emerging markets to global online retail revenues and changing preferences of online consumers in advanced markets, alternative payment methods collectively accounted for a higher share of E-Commerce sales in 2015 than traditional credit card payments. Through 2020, the share of these alternative payment methods is projected to increase further still, while credit and debit cards are projected to lose several percentage points in their share.
E-Wallet has emerged as the top online payment method among the alternatives to bank card. It accounted for close to one-third of worldwide E-Commerce sales and is the second most used payment method in cross-border online shopping, according to a recent survey cited in the yStats.com report. Digital wallet providers such as PayPal and Alipay are preferred by a high double-digit share of online shoppers in countries such as China, Italy, and Mexico. Other prominent alternative payment methods include bank transfer, direct debit, cash on delivery, payment by invoice and in-store payment.
Nevertheless, payment by credit or debit card remains the leading online payment method in multiple advanced markets including the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, the UK and France. Furthermore, in selected emerging markets, such as Russia, there is a trend towards increased use of payment by bank cards. Overall, the diverse payment method preferences of online shoppers worldwide necessitate offering a range of payment options. Three quarters of online merchants concur with this reasoning by accepting at least 3 different online payment options, according to a 2016 survey cited in the yStats.com report.
