The annual transaction value of online, mobile and contactless payments will reach $3.6 trillion this year, up from $3 trillion in 2015.
This is according to Juniper Research's recent study - Digital Payment Strategies: Online, Mobile & Contactless 2016-2020 - which focuses on assessing major trends underpinning growth across digital payments.
The research notes the recent surge in contactless payments will continue, fuelled by further scaling up of infrastructure rollout and increased card payment limits in key markets.
It says while cards will account for 90% of contactless payments over the next five years, the deployment of near-field communication (NFC) payments by high-profile players such as Apple and Samsung will increase consumer awareness and usage of smartphones to fulfil transactions.
Jeremy Osborne, Africa field marketing manager for telecom solutions at Gemalto, says Apple Pay along with Samsung Pay initiatives are supporting existing NFC deployments around the world and will further boost end-user adoption, reinforcing momentum around mobile contactless payment.
Although no national deployments have taken place yet, major banks in SA are testing different contactless-based technologies, adds Osborne.
James Wester, research director, worldwide payment strategies at IDC Financial Insights, says as consumers' reliance on smartphones grows, as well as their level of trust that the devices are safe and secure, so will their use of mobile devices to complete transactions.
The necessary pieces to spur consumer adoption of mobile payments are finally in place, he adds.
The report also points out the growing presence of social media companies in the e-retail space - with companies like Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram introducing 'buy' buttons.
These allow users to make purchases directly from the companies' mobile apps.
The report says digital e-commerce on social media activity will increasingly extend into the person-to-person (P2P) payments space.
Windsor Holden, head of forecasting and consultancy at Juniper Research, says Facebook has already rolled out a P2P service linked to its Messenger service in the US. Holden believes there will be additional deployments in other core markets over the next year or so.
The research also predicts mobile wallet adoption will continue to accelerate in developing markets, with nearly 20 countries across Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa now having more mobile money accounts than bank accounts.
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