A new study from Juniper Research has found that the number of people using digital wallets will increase from 2.3 billion this year to nearly 4 billion, or 50% of the world’s population, by 2024. This in turn will push wallet transaction values up by more than 80% to more than $9 trillion per annum.
The research group says that the strongest growth is expected to come through online payments for remote purchases. Juniper’s study argues that increases here would be driven by a greater volume of transactions conducted via stored credentials. For example, in the U.S., annual spend per digital wallet is expected to increase from around $3,350 this year to more than $6,400 by 2024.
What’s more, Juniper says usage will be boosted by the increased security for online payments afforded by the introduction of SRC (Secure Remote Commerce) standards from H2 2019, with transactions protected via tokens and dynamic cryptograms. The report highlights the challenge posed to NFC-based contactless wallets, such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, by the emergence of wallets based on QR codes, with growth expected to be boosted by the implementation of EMVCo standards.
However, Juniper believes that the primary opportunities for QR code wallets outside their Chinese heartland will occur in developing Asia, where there is a paucity of POS infrastructure and merchants can use smartphones to fulfil QR-based transactions.
