The state of digital wallets today and tomorrow: What does this mean for payments in the future?

This paper analyses the current state of digital wallets among consumers, financial institutions and merchants globally and looks at what the future holds in this regard. The findings of this paper are based on the expertise from Enfuce, a Nordic payment service provider, which is looking at digital wallets from a global perspective, as well as case studies from Northern Europe and secondary research. Although the case studies are examples from the Nordics, the lessons learned can be considered to be global. It was found that the use of digital wallets will increase in the future as consumers increasingly prefer digital wallets as a means of payment. Reflective of this is the vast and ever-increasing number of digital wallets available on the market today, which is due to differing demands and behaviours of consumers, financial institutions and merchants in different regions and markets. This means that there is no single solution catering for all market participants. With an increased number of digital wallets available, the competition will get even more brutal — only the most popular and visible apps will thrive, and end-user experience and appealing features are crucial to success.