A new study points to significant growth in transactions via digital wallets over the next four years that will have implications for e-commerce merchants on both the payment and fraud sides of their business.
According to U.K.-based Juniper Research in its Digital Wallets: Key Opportunities, Vendor Analysis and Market Forecasts 2022-2026 report ($), the value of digital wallet transactions will surge from $7.5 trillion in 2022 to more than $12 trillion in 2026. As has always been the case for any digital payment method, fraudsters will leverage new and growing ways to pay online for fraud first because their unfamiliarity makes it easier to fool people and second because more transactions means more places to hide.
As the popularity of digital wallet payments grows, merchants will be under increasing pressure from consumers to accept them. At the moment, Juniper identified PayPal, Alipay, WeChatPay, Apple Pay and Google Pay as the top five most popular digital wallets.
The research predicts leading digital payment vendors will diversify their payment products to include new solutions (e.g., Buy Now, Pay Later and cryptocurrencies) and that APIs connecting financial institutions to local retailers will be key to the international growth of digital wallets usage for large, cross-border e-commerce merchants.
