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Research: Strong growth continues in China's e-payments market

March 25, 2014

When the Chinese electronic payment market truly opens to international competition, international payment players are likely to find a relatively mature payments market, given its current development trajectory, a new research note from Mercator Advisory Group says.

"Chinese Electronic Payment Market Update" provides context needed to understand the fast-growing Chinese electronic payment market, providing updated information on payment cards, card acceptance and mobile payments, according to Mercator.

The research highlights current market trends, regulatory developments, and key players. It explains that while Chinese consumers still rely heavily on cash, they've also become more comfortable using debit and credit cards. Moreover, government policies have encouraged the growth of non-cash payments.

"As the country has developed, hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers have moved from rural areas to urban settings and have made the transition from low income to middle income," said Tristan Hugo-Webb, associate director for international advisory service at Mercator, and primary author of the research. "With this transition, Chinese consumers have increasingly moved away from using cash in favor of electronic payment alternatives like debit and credit cards and more recently mobile payments."

Highlights of the research note:

• an overview of China's payment card, card acceptance, online and mobile payment landscape;
• examination of recent regulatory announcements from China's government, and their potential impact on the development of the country's electronic payment market; and
• insight into market concerns that could slow or even reverse growth in different electronic payment segments in China.

One of four exhibits in the research note: