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PULSE Perspectives - September 2022

P2P Isn't Just for Peers Anymore

Digital Transactions reports small businesses are adopting peer-to-peer (P2P) payments. The Electronic Transactions Association’s report, P2P Payment: A Disruption to Plastic?  found 82% of small businesses accept at least one form of P2P payment. Even more (92%) said they are “happy” or “very happy” with their P2P payment experience. PayPal tops the list as the most popular form of P2P payment among merchants, followed by Cash App, Venmo and Zelle.

PULSE Perspective:  A key aspect of this development is the extent to which adoption of P2P payments by businesses will encroach on card payments. This is a trend we will keep an eye on.

 

Juniper Finds Digital Wallets Taking Off

Use of digital wallets will accelerate over the next four years, driven by “super apps” and QR code-based payments. Computer Weekly on a Juniper Research study projects the number of global users of digital wallets will jump 53% by 2026 to reach 5.2 billion. Payments using QR codes will be the most used digital wallet transaction types by 2026, accounting for a projected 40% of all transactions by volume.

PULSE Perspective:  Enabling digital cards in mobile wallets is a simple way that issuers can cater to the preferences of digital-first consumers and business operators.

 

Ecommerce Growth Stalls

The Adobe Digital Price Index shows U.S. consumers spent over $74 billion online in June, up just 1% from June 2021. As reported by eSeller365, online spending was down compared to both April and May of this year – although up 1% from June 2021. So far this year consumers have spent nearly $452 billion online, up nearly 8% from the same period in 2021. The numbers show that an uncertain economic climate and rising costs in basic necessities like groceries are curbing online spending on discretionary items.

PULSE Perspective:  The pace of increases in digital transactions is slowing as consumer sentiment continues to slide. Since this has been the source of most debit volume growth, the slowdown in digital is expected to result in slower volume growth overall.