Key Insights Into The Worldwide Mobile Payments Market

The population of the world is over 7.5 billion out of which 5.28 billion people have mobile phones, that’s roughly 68% of the total population and it means that 7 out of 10 people have a phone. We can safely say that mobile phones have penetrated deep into our lifestyles. These little devices are used for so much more beyond just communication. They are your mobile wallets that can be used to make ‘on the go’ payments for various kinds of purchases on and off the internet. At this moment, the mobile payments market is bigger than ever and the graph is still climbing rapidly. According to a report, in the next 5 years, there will be 500 billion mobile payments. Growing with a CAGR of 28.7%, this market is expected to reach USD 6884.24 billion by the year 2026 in terms of the total value of transactions.

This massive growth can be accredited to the tremendous growth of mobile phones and internet penetration to the deepest corners of several countries. Along with that network infrastructure growth with technologies like high speed 4G, 5G networks has taken mobile payments to another level.

Segmentation of the Mobile Payments:

Mobile payments can be categorized on the basis of region, application, by mode of transactions, and by type of mobile payment option used. Due to the tremendous reach of this technology, it has found various kinds of usage and applications cutting across several domains.

By mode of payment/transaction:

1. Proximity Payments: This category includes payments that are made when in proximity to a sensor or a physical payment portal. These are further divided in NFC (Near Field Communication) payments and QR code scanning to complete a transaction.
2. Remote Payments: These payments can be made from far away by using the internet or via sending an SMS (Short Message Service). They require authentication of your identity via an OTP (One Time Password) or your login credentials. The major part of remote payments is via mobile wallets or via bank cards. The mobile wallets segment is going to explode in a few years as almost every eCommerce business has been integrating mobile wallets into their applications. Mobile wallets are seeing a significant growth because they are super easy to operate and are swift and efficient methods of mobile payment.

By application in different sectors: The dominion of mobile payments is vast and pervades various sectors including the ones mentioned below. From booking a cab or a movie ticket to paying for your meals at a restaurant, mobile payments have made everything simple, officially taking over cash as a medium of transaction.

• Entertainment
• Energy & Utilities
• Healthcare
• Retail & eCommerce
• Transportation & Bookings
• Others

Region wise segmentation:

• Africa & middle-east: These regions have been somewhat ‘lagging behind’ when it comes to mobile payments and their market can be described as one of a ‘slow growth’ in this regard.

• Asia Pacific: This region represents a fast-growing model with revolutions like digitization and infrastructure growth that is moving at a great pace. Chinese market is well established while some countries like India and Japan are getting there soon.

• North America: The mobile payment sector is doing quite well here thanks to the robust networking infrastructure and a parallel digital economy that sustains the growth of the mobile payments market.

• Latin America: A poor growth model is seen in this region. This can be attributed to poor penetration and lack of digital economic initiatives in the region.

• Europe & Australia: These two regions have been doing fairly well as they are the top leaders in this market. Most of the payments here are made digitally and via mobile phones. Their growth model can be followed in any country to improve this market.

Future of Mobile Payments:

It would be safe to say that the future of this industry is definitely promising. This revolution has just started and as digital transformation engulfs the whole globe the number of mobile users and payments will go on increasing. As this industry churns out huge volumes of data, there are algorithms at work to process this big data and identify patterns that could help vendors. Studying trends like purchasing habits, consumer behavior patterns, popular modes of payments, etc. brings useful statistics to the table and help create better solutions to make this technology more friendly and universal. The future is dependent on several factors that affect this market, let’s look at some of the key points:

• Changing lifestyles and a move towards digital economy is a major booster.
• Governments and economic regimes are tilting towards the digital transformation of finance.
• Network and payment infrastructure is being built to promote mobile payments.
• Increase in wearable technology payments add to this market significantly.
• Integration of AI (Artificial Intelligence) to boost market growth.
• Faster mobile networking capability is a major boost to this market.

Generation ‘Z’ which dwells in a digital universe is the biggest consumer market for the mobile payments industry. There is no dearth of prospective consumers that are bound to come on board in the next few years. There may be a few challenges but they will be blown away as the revolution takes its course. The only gap to cover is between ‘technology’ and ‘adoption’ and this relies heavily on developing infrastructure. The best of this industry is yet to reveal itself to us, let’s wait and watch!