The online payment market - United States

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 meansof 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 US market is mature, with a high number of internet users and digitalization. In other words, the US 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. In particular, e-commerce is the key driver going forward. JPMorgan reports that the US E-commerce market is relatively undeveloped, as Online shopping in the U.S. accounts for just 8.9 percent of overall retail sales. As this segment increases, online payments will as well, and players in the industry must be ready to leverage this effect.

Competition is fierce and there are many players offering services. Nevertheless, several players have cemented their position and gained customer loyalty. For instance, in 2020 89% of respondents used PayPal. This is by far the most, in second place the most used application was Venmo with 28% claiming they had used it.