It took just three years for the number of purchases in Shoper stores paid for by card, BLIK and other fast online payments to nearly double. A decade ago, payment systems were treated as a curiosity; in 2017 they accounted for 38 percent of transactions, and a year ago already for half. Today we pay for 62 percent of online orders this way. What does this mean for sellers and buyers?
The results collected from several thousand stores operating on the Shoper platform fit into global trends in paying for online purchases. According to the WorldPay Global Payments Report 2020, at the end of last year only 9 percent of online orders worldwide were paid for by traditional bank transfer, 4.5 percent in cash at a pickup point, and 1.3 percent by postal cash on delivery. The vast majority of payments for purchases are various forms of online payment. Their popularity in global statistics is driven up especially by North America, where the share of payments by payment cards and various types of virtual wallets already exceeds 90 percent.
Fast payment means faster delivery
Fast payment means faster delivery
In Poland, the "old" methods of paying for e-purchases still have more supporters than across the ocean, but their share is shrinking fast. In the latest REPORT on the payment methods chosen by buyers on the Shoper platform, the most recent data were compared with an analogous study from 2017. Over three years, the share of those paying cash at a pickup point fell from 9 to 5 percent, those paying cash on delivery from 21 to 18 percent, and those paying by traditional bank transfer from 32 to 15 percent.
While in 2017, 38 percent of customers chose online payments, today as many as 62 percent of buyers finalize purchase transactions this way. Other payment methods have therefore lost out to online payments.
- Around the world, e-commerce shows a tendency to remove barriers during shopping. Fast online payments eliminate two nuisances at once. First, they reduce form-filling to a minimum, shortening shopping time. And because the seller has the money in their account within seconds of the purchase, they can start fulfilling the order right away, which shortens the wait for the parcel. Only the implementation of such a system itself can be problematic. That is why for five years we have been offering this feature under the convenient umbrella of the Shoper Payments service, where we are gathering more and more useful solutions. In 2016 we added BLIK, in 2019 Google Pay, and soon we will make deferred payments available - explains Oliwia Tomalik, Marketing Manager at Shoper.
Faster for a book, for a toy by traditional transfer
Faster for a book, for a toy by traditional transfer
Online payments are pushing out bank transfers and cash
E-payments are pushing out bank transfers and cash in e-commerce
The popularity of fast online payments varies slightly depending on the store's industry. It is highest in stores in the Books and Multimedia category (66 percent of transactions). It is also high in the Delicatessen and Accessories and Gifts categories (65 percent each). The greatest popularity of bank transfer payments was recorded in stores with children's accessories, while cash-on-delivery shipments were most common in automotive stores and in the Home and Garden category.
These differences are driven by, among other things, the different margin levels of stores for particular product ranges. A seller using an online payment system must share a fraction of the profits with its operator, and this discourages some.
Fast payments smell of security
- When fast online payments were starting out, among store owners there was a lingering belief that it was an interesting but not very profitable solution. Over time they became convinced that although the profit from a single transaction is slightly smaller, by offering convenient payment solutions they sell more and come out ahead. Besides, for many buyers, the ability to pay by card or BLIK is no longer so much a matter of saving time as a test of shopping security. If a store has such an option, it means it has been verified by a financial institution. By avoiding fast online payments, sellers put off customers sensitive to security issues - notes Oliwia Tomalik.
The number of store owners using Shoper Payments is steadily growing. Compared with last year, their share on the platform rose from 19 to 28 percent.
Summary
An analysis of Shoper platform data shows that in 2020 fast online payments accounted for 62 percent of online purchases, while three years earlier it was 38 percent. Traditional transfers fell from 32 to 15 percent, and cash-on-delivery payments from 21 to 18 percent. According to the WorldPay Global Payments Report 2020, worldwide only 9 percent of orders are paid by transfer, and in North America the share of cards and virtual wallets exceeds 90 percent. Expert Oliwia Tomalik points out that fast payments shorten order fulfillment time and are a signal of security for customers, which encourages sellers to implement them. The number of stores using Shoper Payments rose year on year from 19 to 28 percent.
