Mastercard Research Shows Surge in Digital Payments as E-commerce Reaches New Heights Around the World

The way we shop is changing. With constraints imposed on our daily lives due to COVID-19, consumers are adopting new payment habits at an accelerated pace, according to a global study by Mastercard conducted in 15 markets. Consumers are increasingly moving away from cash and opting for contact-free and digital payments experiences – and they don’t expect to go back. E-commerce is also seeing a surge, with Mastercard SpendingPulse reporting record growth rates across the globe as consumers increasingly shop online.

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As our payment behaviors evolve, two notable trends emerge in our research:

• In store, a massive move away from cash: Globally, almost seven in 10 consumers say the shift to digital payments will likely be permanent, and nearly half of consumers plan to use cash less, even after the pandemic subsides, according to a Mastercard weekly survey launched April 27.
  
  Since the pandemic began, nearly half (46%) of respondents in Asia Pacific say they are using cash less often, while two-thirds of Latin American consumers say they are using cash less or not at all. In Europe, which already had the largest adoption of contactless payments of any region, 64 percent say tap and pay is now their preferred way to pay in-store.
• A steep increase in e-commerce: As highlighted in Mastercard’s newly released Recovery Insights: Shift to Digital report, e-commerce has reached new heights. Mastercard SpendingPulse¹, which measures retail sales across all payment types including cash and check, shows that United States e-commerce spending grew by 93 percent year-over-year in the month of May. And in April and May, e-commerce as a share of total retail sales reached 33% in the United Kingdom – an unprecedented high (ex. auto, petrol and restaurants). Note that e-commerce follows the Census definition*.

“While no one could have predicted the state of the world we’re in today, it has reinforced the necessity for us to continue evolving the consumer payment experience to meet the consumer wherever they are,” says Jorn Lambert, Executive Vice President, Digital Solutions. “We’ve been focused on building our Digital-First capabilities for years, which have enabled this accelerated shift to digital payments – it’s unlikely consumers will revert to old payment habits.”