Digital Wallet Spend to Exceed $10 Trillion Globally in 2025; Driven by Rising eCommerce & Contactless Spend

A new study from Juniper Research has found that total spend globally via digital wallets will exceed $10 trillion in 2025, up from $5.5 trillion in 2020. The research found this dramatic 83% growth in spend will be fuelled by the heightened adoption of digital payments during the pandemic.

Check Out These Resources

• Do you need a business bank account for your online business? Take a look at our review of the five best bank accounts for sellers, some of which are free with no minimum balance or deposits. ^[sponsored]
• Boost your social media engagement with Publer. Learn how you can save time writing engaging content faster with AI. ^[sponsored]
• Could your online business use capital for growth? Here is a primer on revenue-based loans, and how they work.

Digital wallets, where payment details are stored and accessed via a single application, have proven themselves as being both convenient and secure during this difficult period; acting as a platform for future growth.

The report identified that wallets are becoming increasingly capable of both contactless and remote payments. The research forecasts that in 2025, contactless and eCommerce payments will account for 50% of total wallet spend, from just under 36% in 2020; making these the high-priority areas where wallet providers need to maximize their merchant networks.
  
For more insights, download the free whitepaper: Digital Wallets ~ Transforming the Way We Pay? Whitepaper Download

Acceptance – The Challenge for Merchants

The new research, Digital Wallets: Key Opportunities, Vendor Analysis and Market Forecasts 2021-2025 Market Research, found that the rapid growth in digital wallets availability, coupled with rising adoption, has left merchants with difficult decisions around acceptance.

The report identified integration costs for multiple wallets as challenging for merchants; meaning that picking the right wallets to focus on is highly important.

“Merchants must base their payment strategies around wallet acceptance in order to support a digitally-engaged addressable market, but must also judge the right wallets to target, or they will be lumbered with increased costs and limited benefits.”

Alexandria Sadler, Research Co-Author

Contactless Payments Seeding Greater Wallet Use

The research also found that the increased use of contactless mobile payments during the pandemic, prompted by concerns around cash, has seeded greater wallet use across the payments’ ecosystem.

The report forecasts that contactless adoption will rise, with over 34% of mobile handsets set to use contactless payments in 2025, up from 11% in 2020. This growth means integrating contactless-enabled wallets within checkout processes will be critical to meet changing user expectations.