A new study released by Juniper Research claims consumer spend through the use digital wallet will increase by 40% this year to nearly $790 billion across Europe and North America.
The study predicts mobile contactless payments made instore will be the most noticeable change thanks to rapid growth in adoption – equaling to more than double the transactions made by the end of 2019.
Digital Wallets: Service Provider Analysis, Market Opportunities & Forecasts 2019-2024 found eRetail digital wallet expenditure to be the largest contributor.
It notes the ever changing payment ecosystem as “continued migration from cash” has lead to a “surge” in waller use at POS terminals.
This is down to the adoption of NFC method from younger demographics rate increasing; a third of iPhones are now used for contactless payments.
Juniper’s report highlighted the significance in developments of partnerships between digital wallet providers and banks in order to drive consumer reach, with Apple achieving the largest addressable share of banking consumers in 7 of the 10 national markets assessed.
With the introduction of Facebook’s Calibra wallet and Libra cryptocurrency social payments made through digital wallets could be set for a huge increase.
In terms of the online territory, PayPal remain dominant however the report found wallets such as Apple Pay, Amazon Pay and Visa Checkout has all “significantly expanded their availability” at merchant sites.
Due to “limited addressable bases and functional constraints” the study concluded wearable-Pay wallets would struggle to oust converged wallets
Juniper Research Analyst Nick Maynard explained: “Wearable-Pay solutions are still completely dependent on the smartphone and are ultimately limited to a single use case. They are thus likely to remain, at best, a niche offering.”
