WorldPay: Digital Payments Overtake Cash and Cards Globally
Digital payment methods have flipped the script on traditional cash and cards, rising from 34% of global e-commerce value in 2014 to 66% in 2024, according to Worldpay's tenth Global Payments Report (GPR).
The transformation is even more pronounced in physical retail, with digital payments' share growing from just 3% of global transaction value in 2014 to 38% in 2024.
Worldpay, a global payment processing company, forecasts digital payments will account for 79% of e-commerce value and 53% of in-person transactions by 2030.
The report identifies several key trends reshaping the payments landscape over the past decade, with mobile devices playing a central role in the transformation.
"Need to stay home today? You can use AR to try on that dress and pay in-app. Left your cards at home? You have them all in your digital wallet. Convenience really is the reigning retail king," says Pinar Koygun, Senior Director for Retail at Worldpay.
Mobile drives transformation
The smartphone's impact on global consumer payments has been transformative. Mobile's share of global e-commerce tripled from 19% to 57% between 2014 and 2024, with projections showing it will reach 64% by 2030.
Digital payment volumes at point-of-sale locations have surged from US$1.2tn in 2014 to US$14.2tn in 2024. By 2030, Worldpay projects 53% of in-person shopping value will be transacted via mobile devices, representing approximately US$25tn.
This shift corresponds with unprecedented smartphone adoption. According to data cited in the report, 122 million smartphone units were sold globally in 2007. By 2024, that figure had risen to over 4.2 billion, with projections reaching 6.1 billion by 2029.
Real-time payments gain momentum
“The future of payments will be shaped by greater personalisation, further refinement of AI and the development of new payment methods”
Government-backed instant payment systems have emerged as critical infrastructure for consumer payments. Brazil's Pix and India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) stand out as the most prominent examples.
Instant payment systems combine payment authorization and settlement into a single process, allowing funds to transfer in seconds rather than days.
In India, UPI has revolutionised payments and transformed a previously cash-dependent economy. At UPI's launch in 2016, cash accounted for 78% of point-of-sale value.
In 2024, UPI dominates with 58% of physical retail and 64% of e-commerce transaction value, while cash use stands at just 15%.
Brazil's Pix system, launched in November 2020, has similarly transformed that country's payment landscape. Cash's share of point-of-sale value halved in the first five years of Pix's operation, from 35% in 2020 to 17% in 2024.
Account-to-account transfers via various instant payment systems now account for 17% of e-commerce and 4% of physical retail regional transaction value in Europe.
âToday's travel payment landscape has largely moved from a heavily agent-dependent model to one dominated more and more by digital transactions directly with airlines,â says Thomas Helldorff, Worldpay's Vice President for airlines, travel and hospitality.
âThe rise of low-cost carriers helped pioneer direct online payments, pushing traditional airlines to enhance their digital capabilities.â
Digital wallets dominate
Digital wallets accounted for more than a third of global consumer-to-business spending in 2024, exceeding US$15.7tn. By 2030, combined consumer digital wallet spending is projected to exceed US$28tn.
China leads the world in digital wallet adoption. In 2024, wallets accounted for 84% of e-commerce and 70% of physical retail transaction value in China.
The wallet ecosystem has diversified significantly. Financial technology companies like PayPal, GCash in the Philippines and PhonePe in India have built payment experiences from scratch.
Online marketplaces like Amazon and Alibaba have developed scalable payment businesses.
Technology companies like Apple, telecommunications providers like e& (formerly Etisalat) and Boost, and search engines like Google and Naver have all developed digital wallet offerings.
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) services have established themselves as a significant factor in consumer finance.
In Worldpay's first GPR, buy now, pay later accounted for US$2.3bn in e-commerce transaction value globally. In 2024, it accounts for 5% of global e-commerce valueâapproximately US$342bn.
Despite the digital transformation, cash continues to show resilience. While cash use continues to fall, Worldpay forecasts its annual rate of decline will stabilise globally at -2% CAGR from 2024-2030. Cash is projected to fall from 15% of physical retail value in 2024 to 11% by 2030.
“The future of payments will be shaped by greater personalisation, further refinement of AI and the development of new payment methods,” says Hesper Huang, Senior Director for Digital Content at Worldpay.
“We may see an overlapping of industries as shopping for real or virtual items becomes even more embedded in games and digital worlds, where it will be crucial for payments to be unintrusive.”
Explore the latest edition of FinTech Magazine and be part of the conversation at our global conference series, FinTech LIVE.
Discover all our upcoming events and secure your tickets today.
FinTech Magazine is a BizClik brand
