Alternative payment methods maintain growth in Singapore’s e-commerce market

It accounted for 38.6% of the total payments.

The adoption of alternative payment methods continues to grow in Singapore as it comprised 38.6% of the total e-commerce transactions value in 2023.

In a statement, GlobalData said that the alternative payment methods narrowed the gap with a share of card payments in the total e-commerce payments as it remained to be the leading payment method at 40.1%.

“While payments cards traditionally remain the preferred choice for e-Commerce payments, alternative payments are increasingly gaining prominence with their collective share catching up with payment cards,” said Kartik Challa, Senior Banking and Payments Analyst at GlobalData. 

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“Alternative payments collectively account for a 38.6% share in 2023 – up from 27.6% in 2020, with some of the popular brands being Apple Pay, PayPal, and Google Pay,” Challa added.

GlobalData said payment cards remain dominant due to their value-added benefits which include interest-free instalments payment options, reward programmes, cashback, and discounts.

Meanwhile, alternative payments offer pricing benefits. For example, ShopeePay offer vouchers which include cashback offering as high as 80%, reward point, and free shipping.

The growth of alternative payments is also driven by buy now, pay later, it said.

“The growing popularity of alternative payment solutions, especially among the millennials, is expected to further accelerate the shift away from payment cards, and these solutions are all set to challenge the dominance of payment cards going forward,” Challa added.