The news: Digital wallet use is growing in the United States, especially among younger adults, per Global Payments’ Global Payments Report 2026.

• Digital wallets composed 40% of ecommerce and 17% of in-store retail checkouts in 2025.
• Younger consumers are growing that share: 39% of 18- to 25-year-olds and 41% of 35- to 41-year-olds cite digital wallets as their most used online checkout method, compared with 9% of respondents ages 65 and older.

Why this matters: The US has lagged its international peers on digital wallet adoption. Digital wallets represent 56% of global online spending and 33% of in-store purchases. 

With younger US consumers leading digital payment adoption, merchants can anticipate a larger share of purchases conducted through digital wallets as Gen Zers mature into later adulthood.

Implications for merchants: Plastic’s dominance for payments may be sunsetting stateside. As consumers shift away from paying with physical cards toward digital wallets, merchants have ample opportunity to lock in loyalty from digital-wallet-centric consumers:

Wallets are now a shopping feature layer. Digital wallets can span the entire commerce journey, from discovery phases with personalized wallet-linked offers, financing, and rewards to post-purchase engagements like order tracking, receipts, and returns. This wraparound coverage of the shopping experience gives wallets additional influence over consumers’ purchase behavior.

Wallets now spur loyalty rewards. Seventy-three percent of consumers hold items other than credit cards within their digital wallets, like loyalty cards, per a November 2025 Vibes survey. And 75% of consumers would interact more with brands that offer specialized rewards linked to their wallet, incentivizing merchants to activate rewards redemption via digital wallet integrations.