Research is being conducted in the payments domain bringing in more insights day-by-day. A recent market report by yStats.com covers the trends noticed across different geographies specific to online and mobile payments. Competition in the global online and mobile payments market has been quite fierce. Amazon has its Login and Pay processing service; Google has its own prepaid card service linked to its Wallet service; Visa and MasterCard have added cloud based solution to offer NFC based payments via HCE; PayPal already portrays a strong presence in the market. Moreover, we have big brands like Apple and Facebook as rising stars in the payments market. Some insights from the report are:

Security Aspect

This remains a major issue in the online payments market. Surveys have revealed that almost a third of offline shoppers cite their distrust in online payment methods and hence do not opt for online shopping. European Union legislators are working towards improving electronic payments regulations with a high focus on security.

Integration of Payments

This is becoming a major trend across multiple channels. Banks, payment processors, card companies and multi-channel merchants globally are working towards integration of online payments with mobile and POS payments. Mobile wallets are offering new services beyond mobile payments. Meanwhile, merchants are seeking a single payment provider that can make things work across channels.

Mobile Payments

Both online and in-store mobile payment methods are showing continuous growth worldwide with rising consumer adoption. Around one-fourth of global customers used mobile phones for financial or banking transactions last year. The number of mobile payment transactions has been forecasted to grow rapidly and is expected to reach several billions by 2018. Considering the share of use of mobile for total B2C e-commerce payments, the geographies leading the trend include Middle East & Africa.

Alternative Payment Methods

The digital currency trend is evolving day-by-day. U.S. is witnessing alternative payment methods being major rivals to debit and credit cards. M-commerce payments have amounted to billions of dollars, with both mobiles and tablets being contributing factors. Latin American nations are witnessing substantial presence of alternative payment methods because of a number of internet users and potential shoppers not having credit cards.

Payment Cards

Cards account for the largest share of B2C E-commerce transactions in Europe. Online shoppers in Switzerland use credit cards the most for mobile shopping. In Austria, the leading method both in m-commerce and B2C e-commerce has been credit cards. In UK, card payment witnesses an annual growth rate of 10% with online payments acting as the largest contributor. Earlier this year, the monthly value of payments via contactless cards exceeded 100 million pounds. Cards dominate payments in Nordic countries in both B2C e-commerce and m-commerce as well.

Cash on Delivery

More than half of online shoppers prefer to pay on delivery with cash, but a growing number approaching a quarter of shoppers prefers to pay with card either online or upon delivery. It is a dominant payment method in Russia and the Czech Republic. The share of cash on delivery on B2C E-Commerce payments in India is forecasted to decrease from 2013 to 2016, though it still accounts for about half of the market as credit card and mobile payments continue yo increase there. Cash on delivery remains the major payment method in the growing B2C E-Commerce in the Middle East and Africa. This method accounted for almost a half of E-Commerce transactions, while cards accounted for a third.

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