The global value of consumer spend on digital and physical goods made via remote payments will surpass $3.3 trillion this year, up 10 per cent on 2017, new research from Juniper has found.

The latest study noted that alternative payment mechanisms would comprise an increasing proportion of online spend, with PayPal already accounting for 20 per cent of the mobile and online transactions made for physical goods outside of China. The success of Alipay and Weixin Pay within China means that these two firms combined now account for 45 per cent of global payment volumes.

The research also highlighted pain points for merchants and consumers, with the implications of PSD2 set to affect European merchants, as they would need to be ‘white-listed’ by consumers for payment details to be stored. Secure Customer Authentication obligations could, according to the study, adversely impact conversion rates by increasing friction at checkout.

Juniper also stressed that merchants should localise supported payment mechanisms (such as iDEAL in the Netherlands and credit card instalments in Brazil), working with payment processors to test optimal flows for target markets.

Windsor Holden, author of the research, commented: “Payment processors and other key stakeholders need to work closely with merchants to ensure they can recognise individual consumers, regardless of device and whether they are purchasing online or offline, to deliver the optimal experience across the retail lifecycle.”

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