More than 80% of e-commerce enthusiasts continue to use their bank card to pay for their purchases. Among the alternatives, transfers and direct debits are progressing markedly.
Nothing works. Neither competition from electronic wallets (PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay), nor the appearance of new means of payment (instant transfer), nor the risk of fraud (which is declining slightly, but persists) seems to be undermining the popularity of bank card to make online purchases.
According to the latest figures published by the Federation of e-commerce and distance selling (Fevad), 84% of e-shoppers have used their bank card for their online purchases in 2022. A figure that is difficult to compare with previous years, the Fevad having changed its method of calculation (1)but nothing indicates that it is in decline.
The card has, in fact, a sizeable asset: it is the only universally accepted means of payment in online stores.
How to get a free credit card?
Transfer and direct debit are progressing
It is precisely the weak point of electronic payment solutions. Easier to use, safer, better provided with services (payment facilities, reimbursement in the event of non-delivery, etc.), digital wallets such as PayPal or Apple Pay are still far from being offered by all merchants. They therefore remain at a good distance, used by 39% of e-shoppers, a stable figure over one year. Stability also for gift cards in 3rd place (32%).
To find change, you have to look at more marginal means of payment. Transfer and direct debit are now used by 29% of buyers, compared to just 16% a year ago. More and more merchants, especially among the biggest ones, are adding them, in fact, to the list of accepted means of payment.
An evolution facilitated by the democratization of open banking services, such as payment initiation, and instant transfers, pending the launch of EPI, the future European means of payment, designed to compete with Visa and MasterCard.
Payments: what is this PPE that will replace Paylib and wants to compete with the bank card?
Strangely, the use of checks, on the decline and ill-suited to distance purchases, is also progressing, from 7% to 14% in one year, like store credit cards (from 3% to 7%).
(1) In 2022, it distinguished card payments in one go (77%) and several times (19%). In 2018, card penetration (80.1%) was calculated as a percentage of the turnover of e-commerce sites.