94% of people in the APAC region consider using an alternative payment method in 2022, Mastercard finds

94% of people in the APAC region say they will consider using at least one emerging alternative payment method in 2022, according to the Mastercard New Payments Index.

These payment methods include QR codes, e-wallets, instalment plans, cryptocurrencies, biometrics, and others. The Mastercard New Payments Index, which was conducted across 18 markets globally, including India, Australia, and Thailand, has revealed that 84% of consumers in APAC already have access to more ways to pay compared to 2020. Mastercard informs that 74% of respondents said that they would shop at small businesses with greater frequency if they offered additional payment options.

According to Mastercard, the use of a range of payment technologies is trending upwards as people’s comfort with and understanding of them increases while the use of cash steadily decreases. In 2022, 69% of respondents in APAC say they plan to use cash less frequently. Meanwhile, e- wallets have gained significant popularity amongst consumers in APAC, with 68% of respondents anticipating using this type of payment in 2022 – higher than the global average of 62%.

Other notable findings of the survey include:

• While 88% of respondents used at least one emerging payment type in 2020, two-thirds (64%) of all respondents, including 75% of millennials, say they tried new payment methods that they would not have tried before the pandemic.

• 80% of respondents agree that they now prefer to shop at stores that have both an in-person and online presence, and 69% are more excited to shop at retailers who offer the latest payment methods. In fact, 60% of consumers polled say they would avoid merchants that do not accept electronic payments of any kind.

• QR codes have gained traction in APAC compared to the rest of the world. Of those who used QR codes for payment, 63% said they used them more frequently in 2020 than they had in the past.

• Consumers are increasingly showing interest in being able to spend crypto assets for everyday purchases. 45% of those surveyed in APAC say they are likely to consider using cryptocurrency in 2022, compared to the 12% that already used it in 2020.

• 64% of consumers in the region say they are excited about the potential of biometric verification methods such as walk assessments or fingerprint authorization. 62% report feeling safer using biometrics to verify a purchase than entering a pin.
• 1 in 4 respondents (27%) have reported that they were victims of fraud in 2020. 79% indicated they would be open to trying new payment technologies if they perceived them to be safe, while 85% want to be sure the payment options the merchant offers are secure.

A recent study on 5,500 Mastercard merchants showed that between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021, more than a fifth of these merchants globally increased the number of ways they connect with consumers, either by enabling an ecommerce channel or accepting contactless transactions.

Over the same period, Mastercard saw the total number of card-not-present transactions grow by over 30% globally while more than 100 markets saw contactless as a share of total in-person transactions grew by at least 50%. In the first quarter of 2021 alone, Mastercard saw 1 billion more contactless transactions as compared to the same period of 2020, particularly in India and Thailand where usage grew by 2x and 4x respectively year-over-year.