The way consumers pay for online purchases has changed significantly as digital wallets, mobile payment applications, and instant bank transfers have become more widely available. While traditional credit and debit cards remain important, shoppers increasingly use payment services that allow them to complete purchases without entering their card details for every transaction.

According to the Global Payments Report 2026 from Worldpay, a Global Payments company, digital wallets accounted for 56% of global e-commerce transaction value in 2025, making them the leading payment method for online shopping. Credit cards ranked second, followed by debit cards, account-to-account transfers, and buy now, pay later services.

The findings reflect a payment market in which convenience and established financial infrastructure coexist. Digital wallets often use existing cards or bank accounts to fund purchases, meaning the growth of wallet payments does not necessarily represent a decline in the underlying use of those financial instruments.

Worldpay's 2026 report provides a global ranking based on the estimated value of consumer-to-business e-commerce payments made in 2025.

These figures represent the share of money spent online, rather than the percentage of consumers using each method or the number of transactions completed.

The estimates cover 42 markets representing approximately 89% of global GDP. Worldpay's methodology combines a survey of 63,441 consumers conducted in Q2 2025 with transaction data, central bank statistics, industry research, and other sources. The results are then incorporated into a proprietary model to estimate payment shares.

Consequently, the ranking describes the distribution of estimated online spending, not a direct count of purchases or a survey ranking of consumers' favorite payment methods.

Digital wallets have become the largest payment category in global e-commerce, accounting for more than half of online transaction value.

Services such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Alipay allow consumers to complete purchases using stored payment information or linked financial accounts.

Their importance extends beyond convenience. Digital wallets can accommodate several underlying payment methods, including credit cards, debit cards, direct bank transfers, and stored balances.

This distinction is essential when interpreting the statistics. A purchase funded by a credit card but completed through Apple Pay, for example, is classified as a digital wallet transaction in Worldpay's payment-method analysis rather than as a direct credit card payment.

The growing share of digital wallets therefore reflects a change in how consumers initiate payments, not necessarily a shift away from cards or bank accounts.

Their adoption also varies considerably across markets. In Asia-Pacific, digital wallets accounted for 77% of online transaction value in 2025, with China and India contributing heavily to the region's results. In North America, the corresponding share was 39%.

Despite the prominence of digital wallets, credit and debit cards continue to account for a substantial portion of online spending.

Credit cards represented 20% of global e-commerce transaction value in 2025, making them the second-largest payment category. Debit cards followed with 10%.

Credit cards allow consumers to finance purchases through an established credit facility, while debit cards generally deduct funds directly from a linked bank account. Both remain widely accepted by online merchants and can also function as funding sources for digital wallets.

Their importance is particularly visible in North America, where established card networks remain central to consumer payments.

In the United States, direct credit card payments represented 32% of online transaction value in 2025, compared with 40% for digital wallets. In Canada, credit cards remained the leading method for online transactions, accounting for 46% of spending.

These figures illustrate how national payment habits can differ even within the same region.

Worldpay also estimates that direct spending through credit, debit, and prepaid cards exceeded $16.1 trillion across online and physical retail channels in the 42 markets studied. That figure excludes the card spending classified under digital wallets, further illustrating the underlying importance of card infrastructure.

Account-to-account payments, commonly referred to as A2A payments, accounted for 7% of global online transaction value in 2025.

These payments move money directly between financial accounts rather than relying on a traditional card transaction at checkout.

A2A payments are particularly important in markets that have developed widely used domestic payment networks.

Brazil offers a prominent example. The country's Pix instant payment system has expanded the use of bank-account payments for commerce. According to Worldpay, A2A transactions represented 42% of Brazilian e-commerce value in 2025, making them the largest online payment category in the country.

The Netherlands provides another example. Its iDEAL payment system accounted for 64% of online payment value in 2025, demonstrating the established role of bank-based payment services in some European markets.

However, the relationship between bank transfers and digital wallets can complicate comparisons. Payments made directly through A2A systems are classified separately, while bank-funded payments initiated through certain digital wallets are included in the wallet category.

This means the global 7% figure does not capture every online purchase ultimately funded through a bank account.

Buy now, pay later services have introduced another way for consumers to manage online purchases.

Providers such as Klarna and Afterpay allow eligible shoppers to divide qualifying purchases into installments under the terms of their chosen service.

Globally, BNPL accounted for 4% of e-commerce transaction value in 2025, according to Worldpay.

That share remains smaller than those of digital wallets and conventional cards, but BNPL is considerably more prominent in some European markets.

Across Europe, BNPL represented 9% of online spending in 2025. Sweden stood out with a 25% share, the highest among the markets covered by the report.

Worldpay's estimates also reflect a specific classification approach. Its 2026 methodology counts installment services offered by BNPL brands directly at checkout, while installments initiated through digital wallets are attributed to wallets and card-backed installments are classified as cards.

As a result, the reported BNPL share should not be interpreted as the total value of all installment-financed online purchases.

Although digital payments account for the overwhelming majority of global e-commerce value, cash-based methods remain relevant in some markets.

Cash on delivery allows consumers to place orders online and pay when the goods arrive. Other arrangements allow shoppers to complete online orders through cash payments at participating stores or payment locations.

According to Worldpay, cash on delivery represented approximately 1.6% of global e-commerce transaction value in 2025.

Its use is substantially higher in certain countries. In the Philippines, cash on delivery accounted for 23% of online transaction value, while in Vietnam, it represented 16%.

These differences demonstrate why payment practices cannot be assessed solely through global averages. A payment option with a relatively small worldwide share may still account for a substantial portion of purchases in an individual market.

The distribution of payment methods differs significantly across major economic regions.

Worldpay's 2025 estimates show how much of each region's online transaction value was processed through digital wallets.

Estimated percentage of e-commerce transaction value processed through digital wallets in 2025.

Asia-Pacific stands apart because of its extensive use of digital wallets, particularly in China and India.

North America has a more balanced relationship between digital wallets and direct card payments. Europe combines substantial wallet use with established card networks, bank transfer systems, and relatively high BNPL adoption.

Latin America has a particularly diverse payment landscape. Credit cards represented 31% of regional online transaction value in 2025, while digital wallets accounted for 23% and direct A2A payments represented another 23%.

In the Middle East and Africa, digital wallets led online spending with 34% of transaction value, although the balance between wallets, cards, bank transfers, and cash differed significantly between national markets.

The regional results underline how the infrastructure available to shoppers, established financial services, and locally developed payment platforms influence checkout behavior.

Worldpay expects digital wallets to strengthen their position in online commerce over the remainder of the decade.

Its 2026 report forecasts that digital wallets will account for 63% of global e-commerce transaction value by 2030, compared with an estimated 56% in 2025.

The projections also suggest that direct credit and debit card payments will represent smaller shares of online spending, although cards can continue to support transactions through digital wallets.

These figures are forecasts rather than reported future outcomes. They depend on assumptions about consumer adoption, payment infrastructure, economic conditions, and market developments.

The central finding is that digital wallets have become the dominant way consumers complete online payments globally, while traditional cards and bank accounts continue to provide much of the financial infrastructure behind those transactions.

For online retailers, the evidence also highlights the importance of local payment preferences. The most widely used payment method worldwide is not necessarily the most widely used method in every country. A checkout experience suited to one market may need different payment options to serve customers effectively in another.