The COVID-19 Pandemic has undoubtedly accelerated the switch to using digital and card payments more frequently than paper currency. Furthermore, more people are beginning to consider and adopt e-wallets as their preferred source of payment method, spearheaded by the fact that they can offer a much more convenient way to receive and send your money whether it be when you’re purchasing something from a shop or paying online. E-wallets have also opened the door for businesses to accept other forms of payment such as cryptocurrencies or foreign currency.
This dominance is expected to continue to grow with e-wallets anticipated to account for up to 30% of e-commerce transactions in Europe by 2024.
Where has seen growth in e-wallet adoption?
With forecasts predicting that e-wallets will continue to grow in 2022, with cash payments globally expected to only make up 17% of all transactions, digital payments are looking to account for 28% of all point of sale transactions.
The UK has shown a strong adoption for e-wallet usage, with 5% of all point of sale transactions coming from e-wallet users. France is about 1%, Spain 3%, and the Netherlands 3%. This equates to about one in twenty transactions coming from an e-wallet. Scandinavia has also experienced a growth in e-wallet users, Sweden especially has seen a rise in people using e-wallet apps to pay for goods with seven out of ten Swedes using an e-wallet.
What has caused the higher adoption of e-wallets in Europe?
The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shifted the way we pay for goods and services across the world. Like in Asia, there has been a shift to digital and contactless payments in favor of physical tender. While using a bank card is still the most used method across Europe especially in countries like the UK and Russia, e-wallet usage has seen a positive rise as mobile payments have become a norm.
Demographics in the form of age and economic status have played a major role in e-wallet usage in Europe. 35% of users fall into the 25–34 age group, which points towards a generational acceptance of e-wallet usage but points towards the economic status of those using e-wallet services, shown as 40% of users fall into ‘high earner’ status.
What is consistent is that the demographic of e-wallet users shows that those who are at the peak of their working life are looking to take advantage of the great tools that e-wallets provide such as limitless spend transactions, sending, and receiving cryptocurrency, and bank wire features.
What STICPAY can offer for European customers
STICPAY is a quick and easy e-wallet solution making online, paperless transactions straightforward and safe.
The e-wallet opens the door for people to make quick, low fee transactions across more than 190 countries. Using an e-wallet like STICPAY, money can be transferred immediately with either no or incredibly low, fees and you can pay online and make transactions in 29 fiat currencies and two cryptocurrencies.
Want to join the e-wallet trend and take control of your transactions?
