In this article, we analyze the payments ecosystem in Australia, one of the most important markets worldwide. A country with a powerful e-commerce, and a great variety of payment methods, especially cards.
in the e-commerce market Australia has experienced significant growth in recent years, primarily supported by high internet penetration, widespread availability of secure online payment systems and a growing number of online shoppers. The COVID-19 pandemic only accelerated the process of changing consumer habits, which shifted from offline to online stores.
Australian e-commerce market shows solid data, To grow by 16.8% in 2020 and 13.4% in 2021 to reach US$ 46.7 billion According to the data reported E-Commerce Analytics by GlobalData, a company specializing in analytics and data. Besides, the forecasts couldn’t be more optimistic. According to these figures online sales are expected to reach the market $91.5 billion (US$70 billion) in 2025.
With regard to payment methods, according to the study data JP Morgan Payment Trends Las leaves Online payment methods are most commonly used by buyers who used 52% transaction, They are the second most used payment method Digital wallets, 22% of total, they follow up with a 13% bank transfer, a method driven by several factors, such as the fact that more and more young people are now taking advantage of buy, pay later systems to purchase products that they receive immediately but later in installments comfortably. Pay. Card providers can also benefit from this trend, as these systems often accept payments through a user’s bank account or specified card. The risk to the merchant is considered low, as a ‘buy now, pay later’ provider usually bears the risk of payment default on the part of the merchant. For this cash payments, these represent 7% of total online sales, according to JP Morgan data.
Five big trends in payments, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia
With respect to the payments ecosystem in Australia, Philip Lowe, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (Reserve Bank of Australia), revealed “The Big Five Trends in Payments” in a speech at the end of 2021, in which he described five ways in which payment methods are going to change compared to today:
1) Cash usage continues to decline
“Abandonment of ticket use was present before the pandemic, but has accelerated in the past two years and is likely to continue,” he said. lowe,
Looking at the total value of ATM withdrawals, the percentage of cash used in Australia has decreased by 30% over the past 3 years. Looking at the total value of ATM withdrawals, cash usage has declined by 30 per cent in the last three years.
And in line with this trend, debit card usage is outstripping credit cards and the number of account-to-account transactions is also on the rise.
2) Digital Wallet
Digital wallet is the umbrella name for solutions such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, where users’ payment details are saved on the device or in the cloud to be used instead of physical payments. Lowe notes that this payment method is becoming more and more popular and is something that has just started.
In addition to accessing bank account holdings, these wallets can also hold “digital tokens,” essentially digital representations of RBA-backed banknotes. “It is very likely that digital wallets will become increasingly important,” the head of the Australian bank said.
3) great technology
As indicated in the previous point, large technology companies such as Apple and Google are already fully involved in the payments sector through their wallets. “The platforms used by these companies provide great networks that they can leverage to quickly build a payments business. They can combine payments data with other data from their platforms, often with cutting edge technology, ” They said. lowe,
As payments become increasingly based in the digital world, the participation of these types of companies is expected to increase.
4) New Business Model
“Another trend is to see smaller players coming into the market, focusing on specific elements of the payments value chain. It’s bringing more competition and making new business models possible,” commented Lowe on the other side of big technology’s role in the digital payments ecosystem. Initiatives like Buy Now Pay Later are an example of this.
5) Community and political interests
finally, from Reserve Bank of Australia They affirm that as the pace of change changes, the population’s interest in payments will continue to be “intense”.
They point to a number of issues that need to be taken into account such as the continued availability of tickets, keeping the cost of electronic payments under control, problems with competition and access to equipment in the form of large technology involvement, and cyber security and Ensuring flexibility of any digital payment system.
