Throughout 2020, users began to use, more than usual, contactless paymenteither through credit cards, through Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay or any other non-physical payment platform, to reduce contact as much as possible and to be able to infect us with the coronavirus.
According to Jim Johnson of Merchant Solution, thanks to this trend change in payment habits, the pandemic has brought us closer to a cashless future on the horizona horizon that does not have to be close, but what is clear is that it will arrive sooner or later.
The use of cash during 2020 dropped by 10%, and accounted for only a fifth of all face-to-face payments made worldwide. In some countries such as Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway and Australia, the use of cash has more than halved according to Merchant Solutions.
Throughout 2019, cash payments in stores in the United States reached 1.4 trillion dollarsby one billion in 2020. In this country, in addition to Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay, there are also other contactless payment methods such as those offered by BestBuy, Sephora and Starbucks among others.
The Asia-Pacific region, led the use of digital payments with 40% of all payments in stores. In the United States that figure stands at 10%, while in Europe it is 7%, in Latin America 6% and in the Middle East 8%.
electronic commerce
E-commerce, one of the big beneficiaries of the pandemicsaw how users increased spending by 19%, reaching 4.6 trillion dollars, the highest growth in the last 5 years and could grow to 7.3 trillion by 2024.