GlobalData just revealed that alternative payment methods like mobile and digital wallets accounted for almost 39 percent of e-commerce payments in Singapore this year.
The statistics showed a market growth of nearly 17 percent in 2022 and is expected to reach SGD19.8 billion in 2023.
“E-Commerce sales in Singapore are thriving, supported by high internet connectivity, smartphone penetration, and well-developed payment infrastructure,” said Kartik Challa, Senior Banking and Payments Analyst at GlobalData.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this shift in consumer preference from brick-and-mortar to online channels.”
While payment cards traditionally remain the preferred choice for e-commerce payments due to the value-added benefits, alternative payment methods have caught up and collectively account for a 38.6 percent share, the popular ones being Apple Pay, PayPal, and Google Pay.
Nowadays, alternative payment providers provide pricing benefits to encourage frequent usage, like ShopeePay, which offers vouchers, reward points, and free shipping.
The growth of alternative payments has also been driven by the rising popularity of buy now, pay later (BNPL) solutions, with companies like Apple introducing Apple Pay Later in June 2023, allowing users to pay for their online and in-store purchases in interest-free instalments.
This growing popularity of alternative payment solutions, especially among millennials, could challenge the dominance of payment cards in the near future.
