Digital wallets will transform into commerce enablers more quickly

The digital wallet is becoming consumers’ payment channel of choice. More than half (53%) of consumers said they use digital wallets more than traditional payment methods, per an August 2023 Forbes survey. By 2027, about 35% of all US consumer purchases will be made via digital wallets, surpassing credit and debit cards, per WorldPay’s ninth edition of The Global Payments Report.

Wallets are becoming mainstream in stores and online. Almost 57% of consumers will use a mobile wallet app to transact monthly in 2024, and roughly 4 in 10 will do so in-store, per our forecasts. Strong Gen Z adoption will propel growth.

Feature innovation is transforming digital wallets into everyday commerce enablers. These features incentivize consumers to centralize purchasing, payments, and banking within their wallet of choice, increasing wallet user loyalty and spend. That’s why PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay are quickly introducing novel features—or quickly copying ones from competitors.

The pace of commerce management feature innovation is reaching a frenzy. Six months ago, we identified four emerging features that digital wallets could add to centralize purchasing within consumers’ wallets of choice:

• Digital smart receipts: Receipts that are stored and searchable in-wallet for easy tracking. They include AI-powered personalized recommendations and rewards offerings.
• Order tracking: Package tracking that includes mapping functionality, even for purchases made outside the wallet.
• Transaction history: In-wallet balances and transaction history for stored cards.
• Credit card rewards optimizers: Rewards options associated with stored cards that are shown to consumers when asked to choose a payment method at checkout.

We predicted swift uptake among providers, with all four features being commonplace by the end of 2024. Since then, wallet providers and their technology vendors have introduced even more features, spurring us to reevaluate our prediction.

Our prediction: Two additional emerging commerce management features will be commonplace across major open-loop wallets by the end of 2024. Along with the four listed above, these features will rapidly attract users and become table stakes among wallet providers:

• Subscription management: A single place where consumers can view recurring payments and modify or cancel active subscriptions.
• Enhanced event tickets: Event tickets that are stored in-wallet along with extra details about the event, like venue information, directions, and recommended playlists.