The online payment market - United Kingdom

1.1 Definition and scope of the study

E-commerce and online shopping are becoming more and more common in our daily lives, serving as a fast, cheap, and convenient means of shopping, paying for bills, and transferring money. To differentiate and succeed in this industry, innovation is key in order to reap and retain new customers. Another important factor to the online payment market is security; since transactions are done through a third party the trust factor becomes very important.

The global online payments market is becoming more and more integrated. There are several different segments of service providers: first, we find pure payment service providers, such as VISA and MasterCard. Moreover, there are traditional transactional institutions such as banks which continue to develop in-house payment services. In parallel with these actors, we find an explosion in FinTechs, such as Klarna, who are challenging the status quo in financial markets. Finally, BigTech is also part of the industry, where players such as Apple and Amazon are developing payment services. In other words, the global market is highly competitive.

Asia will drive the expansion of this market going forward, followed by North America and EMEA.

In general, the key driver for this market are the rate of payments made online. In other words, online payment providers benefit from increased e-commerce activity, but also from payments such as bills, university tuition, trips, etc, that are made online. This dependency is beneficial for market players and vary greatly from country to country. For example, Sweden is a global market leader in the transition into a cash free society.

The UK online payment market is mature: in 2018, the bank account penetration was 96.4%, and the card equivalent was 2.48 units per person. [JP Morgan] In other words, the UK market’s growth will not come from an increase in internet users, but rather from factors such as higher consumer expenditure, a shift from retail to e-commerce, and product innovation. Currently, the clothes and sports goods, travel and holiday accommodation, and household goods are the most common areas for online payments.

The main players in the UK include PayPal, Visa Checkout, Apple Pay, and Amazon Pay. In a survey it was concluded that PayPal had been used by 95% of respondents, making it by far the most popular platform of online payments.