The latest publication from Hamburg-based market research company yStats.com titled “Latin America Online Payment Methods 2023” shares insights into the recent trends and developments of the digital payment market in Latin America. The publication reveals that although credit cards continue to dominate the B2C E-Commerce payment landscape in the region, the alternative payment method BNPL has witnessed major growth.
Credit cards still lead the online payment landscape
Latin America, among other regions, is witnessing a growing adoption of digital payments as the global sentiment continues to move towards digitalization in the payments industry. But this shift away from traditional means of payment is not equal across the global regions. In Latin America, credit cards still rank first in B2C E-Commerce sales, making up more than half of the total payment methods used in 2022, as stated in the new yStats.com report. Meanwhile, alternative payment options like digital wallets only ranked fourth, making up a low double-digit share of B2C E-Commerce sales in the region. Brazil ranked first when it comes to credit card ownership in the region in 2022, while credit cards making up the total B2C E-commerce sales in the country also surpassed 50%.
BNPL saw highest growth in B2C E-commerce payment volume
While credit cards were the most used online payment method in Latin America, BNPL only made up a low single-digit share of B2C E-Commerce sales in most countries in Latin America. Nonetheless, BNPL witnessed the biggest annual increase in use across most countries in the region, according to the new yStats.com publication. In Colombia, BNPL made up a low single-digit share of B2C E-Commerce sales but experienced a triple-digit year-on-year growth from 2021 to 2022 alone. This adoption growth can be observed in countries like Chile, Peru, and many others. The annual growth of BNPL was only surpassed by account-based transfers in Mexico and Pix in Brazil, still displaying major growth in those countries as well.
Real-time payments to witness significant growth by 2027
Real-time payments as an alternative method of payment are gaining popularity in Latin America, acting as a digital cash replacement. From 2022, the real-time payment volume in Latin America is projected to almost quadruple by 2027, displaying a rising desire for this online payment type. As such, the real-time payments share of the total electronic payments in the region is expected to close to double between 2022 and 2027, surpassing the 50% mark. Peru is projected to experience one of the biggest CAGRs of real-time payment transactions in the same period, while this CAGR is expected to be one of the lowest in Chile, as found in the new yStats.com report.
