Electronic Payments Growth Picking Up Steam, Study Finds

Consumers turned to electronic payments at a faster pace in 2018, signaling rising trust and confidence in mobile wallets and other methods, according to new data from the Electronic Transactions Association and payments consulting firm The Strawhecker Group.

The Washington, D.C.-based global trade association reported that overall growth in consumer spending via electronic payments such as credit cards, debit cards and mobile wallets increased by 7.2% for the third quarter of 2018 compared to the third quarter of 2017, when the year-over-year growth was just 3.5%.

“The third quarter of 2018 proved to be another strong period for electronic payments, as U.S. consumers continued to see economic benefits from tax reform and strong personal income growth,” Strawhecker Group Senior Director of Business Intelligence Jared Drieling said. “Despite the rise in year-over-year gas prices during this time period, consumers remained confident and channeled their spending on discretionary items, as evidenced by the growth in retail categories.”

The Electronic Transactions Association also reported that electronic payments at gas stations also grew 16.9% for the third quarter of 2018 versus 9.8% growth in the third quarter of 2017.

Retail spending via electronic payments grew 6.7% year over year in the third quarter of 2018 compared to 5.7% growth the same period in 2017.

“Our latest Spending Snapshot is indicative of consumer trust and confidence in their use of electronic payments products,” Electronic Transactions Association VP of Industry Affairs Amy Zirkle said. “Consumers channeled their confidence into spending with electronic payment methods powered by ETA members.”

The news of accelerating growth in electronic payments follows reports in recent months about monthly ACH volumes hitting all-time highs, upticks in the growth the P2P network Zelle, rising adoption of contactless cards and changing mobile-shopping habits.

However, recent surveys and studies also show that data breaches are common and that many consumers are nonetheless concerned about the safety of their data and their bank accounts.

There were over 6,500 publicly disclosed data breaches in 2018, for example, and they exposed about five billion records, according to a recent report by Richmond, Virginia-based breach-intelligence firm Risk Based Security. The numbers represented less breach activity in 2018 than in 2017, it added.

Nevertheless, so many consumers are worried about their data privacy that many have been deleting mobile apps, removing social media accounts, changing their privacy settings, and rejecting cookies and terms of agreement, according to a recent survey by data analytics firm SAS.