“North America Online Payment Methods: Full Year 2017” is a new report released by Germany-based secondary market research company yStats.com. According to this publication, the use of digital and mobile wallets such as PayPal and Apple Pay is rising both in the USA and Canada, and is rivaling credit cards as the primary payment method of North American online shoppers.
Credit card remains the leading payment choice of digital buyers in the USA and Canada, according to recent surveys cited in the yStats.com’s report. However, in line with the global trend, these countries see a growing use of digital wallet solutions such as PayPal and mobile payment methods including Apple Pay, Android Pay, Google Pay and others.
The key factors driving the adoption of these innovative payment methods by North American consumers include convenience of their use along with reservations about the safety of traditional card payments on the Internet. One-third of U.S. consumers surveyed in 2017 admitted never saving their credit card details on shopping sites due to the fear of this information being hacked. At the same time, concerns over the security of mobile payments also persist. Another survey cited by yStats.com revealed that respondents in Canada value the availability of reward programs above all when paying with their phones.
Given the consumers’ rising interest in innovative payment means, competition between mobile wallet providers in North America is intensifying. Mobile payment apps by merchants such as Walmart Pay and Starbucks Pay especially grew in adoption between 2016 and 2017, although third-party solutions like Apple Pay top the ranking of individual services used by digital consumers in the U.S.
