Pandemic moves consumers towards electronic commerce worldwide

As restrictions are imposed on our daily lives due to COVID-19, consumers are adopting new payment habits at an accelerated rate, according to a global study by
Mastercard made in 15 markets, including several countries in Latin America.

Consumers are getting further and further away from cash and opting for digital payments and contactless payments experiences, and are not going to back down. Electronic commerce is also
There has been an increase in growth rates as consumers shop more and more online, according to data from the Mastercard report.
“Latin America has long been at the forefront of digital transformation. Consumers in the region are highly connected and rapidly adopt new
technologies, ”said Walter Pepper, Senior Vice President of Products and Innovation at Mastercard in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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“At Mastercard, our approach to product design has always been consumer-centric and digital at the forefront. We are happy to be able to live up to what consumers expect today, fully ready to get away from cash and accept long-term, secure digital payments. ”
As payment behavior evolves, we’ve seen two notable trends emerge thanks to our research:
In physical stores, there is a sudden and massive withdrawal of cash: globally, almost seven in 10 consumers say that the switch from cash to digital payments is likely to be permanent, and almost half of consumers plan to use less cash. , even after the pandemic subsides, according to a weekly Mastercard survey released April 27.

Decrease the use of cash

In Latin America, since the start of the pandemic, two thirds of respondents say they are using less cash or using it at all.

53% of Brazilians and 41% of Mexicans and Colombians say they plan to use less cash. When asked about the changes they think will be permanent, 85% of Colombians, 69% of Mexicans, and 63% of Brazilians mentioned contactless payments.
A considerable increase in e-commerce: E-commerce has been growing steadily in the Mastercard business for many years, but for the first time, online payments outpaced physical store payments in the first quarter of 2020, with 41% of Consumers globally reporting that they will buy more online in the next two weeks compared to the previous two weeks.

In Latin America, 54% of Colombians, 52% of Brazilians, and 46% of Mexicans intend to buy more online. This behavioral trend is also supported by Mastercard transaction data.

Laying the foundation for the future of payments

From a simplified online payment experience to contactless payments in a physical store, Mastercard is leveraging its knowledge and technology, forging alliances
criticism and driving innovation to ensure a solid foundation for making the future of payments available to consumers.
Using non-confidential data to improve security: Mastercard’s Digital Enabling Service (MDES) that converts card numbers to tokens, i.e. uses tokenization, rendering them useless to scammers and eliminates Frustration of manually updating your card information.

Mastercard continues to add partners from across the ecosystem, including Mercado Libre / Mercado Pago, PayPal and Didi to offer this security at scale.
“The pandemic has led many consumers to make their first online purchase, starting a new payment habit that they say is here to stay.

Approximately 70% of cards in the region are already MDES-enabled, and we are seeing a significant increase in the number of transactions that are tokenized. This growth in tokenization has a ripple effect across the industry, resulting in peace of mind for consumers and a reduction in fraud for merchants and issuers, ”added Pimenta.
Digital-First to drive consumer choice: Even before the pandemic, mobile devices have been our primary source of communication, information and, increasingly, commerce. That is why, instead of simply supporting physical cards with digital experiences, we have focused on designing digital products from scratch, with the physical card becoming optional.

Survey methodology

The exclusive Mastercard study was conducted between April 27. On May 17, 2020, among adults over 18 years of age. 6,750 interviews were conducted in 15 countries: Australia,

Brazil, China, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Spain, Japan, Mexico, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.

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