A new report from Hamburg-based secondary market research company yStats.com summarizes forecasts on the growth of digital payments and E-Commerce sales across the Asia-Pacific region. Among the key findings of the publication, titled “Asia-Pacific Payment & E-Commerce Forecasts Snapshot 2018,” is that mobile payments are helping the nations in Asia-Pacific move closer to cash-free societies over the next several years.
Asia-Pacific’s consumers increasingly shift from cash to digital
Digital payments are on the rise across the Asia-Pacific region, driven by the rapid growth of E-Commerce and mobile payments, reveals the yStats.com report. As more payment transactions shift to online and mobile means, multiple nations across the region are moving closer to becoming cashless societies. Among them, Australia is projected to be the first to go cash-free by 2022, with South Korea following closely, having around nine in ten payment transactions be cashless by that year. Emerging Southeast Asian markets have a longer way to go before becoming cashless, with most of payment transactions still handled in paper money.
Mobile payments gaining popularity across the region
The growing popularity of mobile wallets is helping consumers across Asia-Pacific to decrease dependence on cash. In China alone, mobile payment value is already counted in trillions of yuan, with still more growth expected through 2020, according to projections cited in the yStats.com report. In India also, mobile wallets are among the key enablers of electronic payment growth, with a projection that in ten years’ time more than one-third of consumer payments will be digital.
Asia-Pacific’s E-Commerce market growth fosters the rise of digital payments
Another driver of the digital payment growth across Asia-Pacific is the expansion of E-Commerce. Southeast Asian nations and India are projected to see the highest online retail sales growth rates over the next few years, while China is expected to remain the region’s leader in E-Commerce market size, as estimated by sources cited in the yStats.com report. While the dominant E-Commerce transaction payment method varies by country, there is a general trend towards more online payments made from E-Wallets.
