The mobile payment volume in China is forecasted to reach new heights this year. Alipay and WeChat Pay, third-party mobile payment providers, are benefitting both from this massive interest in mobile payments in the country as well as through their expansions abroad to reach Chinese customers travelling across Asia and Europe. In South Korea and Australia, two examples of advanced markets, payment via mobile is also increasing, championed by aspects such speed and convenience.

Customers throughout Asia-Pacific have shown variations regarding their preferred payment methods. During online shopping, credit card ranks first in Japan and South Korea and card payments made up almost half of the total digital payments in 2016 in Australia. Meanwhile, digital buyers in China use E-Wallets more than cards to make payments, while Southeast Asian consumers prefer bank transfer and cash on delivery in E-Commerce.

Despite these advances to online and mobile payments, consumers from Asia-Pacific still regard safety as their top priority when buying digitally. Over half of South Korean mobile payment users safeguard their transactions with a password and a single-digit share utilize biometrics like fingerprint scans. Across the globe, about one-third of customers surveyed relayed that payment security is the most important regarding the use of mobile payments