Mobile wallet transaction volumes overtake cash payments in stores

Worldpay from FIS released its Global Payments Report 2021 and the new research shows digital wallet payments at the POS is growing faster than those made by cards. Contactless in-store payments made with a mobile wallet worldwide exceeded in-store cash payments for the first time during 2020, according to a report in NFCW.

According to the report, cash usage fell by 10 percentage points, accounting for 20% of all face-to-face payments globally, while the number of contactless digital wallet payments at the POS is also growing faster than the number of those made with physical cards.

In Canada, the U.K., France, Norway, Sweden and Australia in-store cash payments fell by 50% or more in 2020.

The report predicts that by 2024, cash will account for less than 10% of in-store payments in the U.S. and 13% of payments worldwide, while digital wallets will account for one in three in-store payments globally (33%).

Digital wallet-based ecommerce transactions also grew by 7% during 2020, and the report predicts that by 2024, "digital wallets will account for more than half of all ecommerce payments worldwide," and that "usage of traditional payment methods such as cards and cash-on-delivery are quickly losing share and are expected to account for less than 40% of e-commerce transaction payment method by 2024."