In the second of five reports in our “Payments Ecosystem 2024” collection, we look at what’s influencing how consumers are paying today—and what payment providers can do to capture a larger piece of the retail spending pie.

Growing debt, high interest rates, and recessionary threats could spell trouble despite the positive spending patterns

Digital payment methods continue to displace cash and checks in the US payments ecosystem. But after a pandemic-driven crest, growth is moderating amid economic uncertainty, resetting the stakes for share of wallet.

Travelers may want to let loose on vacation, but they want their premium travel credit cards to be locked down tight. The most in-demand feature of these cards is free identity theft insurance, with 53% of prospective users in the US saying it was “extremely valuable” to them, according to our “US Premium Travel Credit Card Emerging Features Benchmark 2022” report.

Payments Ecosystem: Diminishing analog payment use—as well as the battle for share between entrenched electronic payment methods and emerging challengers—will intensify the battle for customer spending this year.

In 2021, digital payment card transactions—credit card, debit card, and prepaid card—will total $67.74 billion in Canada.

As consumers have gotten more comfortable using debit cards online, US digital debit card spending has outpaced that of credit cards. Transaction value will fall in 2021, but we expect growth to return in 2022.

Cash-back credit cards could make themselves more appealing to prospective customers with a few key features.

The majority of US adults are against living in a cashless society, with 60% indicating they’d prefer physical money to stick around.

eMarketer

Canada is classified as a “high-adoption” country in our global mobile payments forecast.