Mobile Wallets to Become $2.5T Worth Industry in 2021

Recent years have witnessed a surge in the use of mobile wallets as a new, safer, and more convenient way of making payments.

However, the COVID-19 fuelled the growth of the entire segment as people started questioning the safety of using banknotes for fear of transmitting the virus.

According to data presented by Aksje Bloggen, the mobile POS payments are expected to hit over $2bn value in 2020. The impressive growth is set to continue next year, with mobile wallets becoming a $2.5trn worth industry in 2021.

Mobile POS Payments Surged 67.5% YoY Amid COVID-19 Crisis

Over the last few years, mobile payment services have surged in underbanked markets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, providing hundreds of millions of people access to electronic transactions for the first time.

However, they also become incredibly popular among tech-savvy consumers in developed countries, allowing them to make payments without carrying money while reducing the chances of theft or losing currency.

In 2017, the global mobile wallets market was worth $327.6bn, revealed Statista Global Consumer Survey. In the next two years, this figure soared by 266% to almost $1.2trn.

However, the global surge in digital payments amid the COVID-19 outbreak caused the most impressive year-over-year growth in the mobile POS payments segment, with transactions rising by 67.5% YoY to over $2.trn.

The strong increasing trend is set to continue in the following years, with mobile wallets reaching over $4trn transaction value by 2024.

Statistics also show the average transaction value per user increased from $1,097 in 2019 to $1,500 in 2020. In the next four years, this figure is expected to jump by 50% to $2,254.

Almost 1.5 Billion People Will Use Mobile Wallets in 2021

Recent years have also witnessed impressive growth in the number of people choosing mobile wallets to manage their payments. In 2017, 298.7 million people all around the world had been using mobile wallets. Over the last three years, this figure soared by 350% to over 1.3 billion. Statistics show the number of users in the mobile POS payments segment is expected to hit almost 1.5 billion next year and continue rising to 1.8 billion in 2024.

China represents the world’s largest mobile wallets industry, expected to hit $1.1trn transaction value this year, almost 60% of all mobile POS payments globally. This figure is forecast to rise to over $1.3bn in 2021.

The United States ranked as the second-largest market globally, with $372.1bn worth of mobile wallet transactions in 2020, 56% more than a year ago.

However, statistics show the United Kingdom and Japan, as the other leading mobile wallet markets, are forecast to witness the most impressive growth in 2020.

The Statista data revealed the UK market is set to witness a 108% growth amid the coronavirus lockdown, with the transaction value reaching $69.7bn in 2020, a fourfold increase of the pre-COVID-19 figures.

Japanese mobile wallet industry is expected to hit $24.9bn transaction value in 2020, a 165% jump amid the coronavirus outbreak.