Localized Payments Slam Brakes on APAC Cart Abandonment Rates

Merchants expanding into the APAC region are discovering the power of local payment methods.

In the latest report examining this, “The Emerging APAC Opportunity: Local Payment Methods edition,” a PYMNTS and Citcon collaboration, we find that only 13% of the merchants in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. that sell to APAC customers accept the native APAC digital wallets their customers want to use a part of the world where the major card schemes don’t dominate.

The cost of ignoring native payment methods most popular throughout APAC is seen in high cart abandonment rates.

“APAC cart abandonment rates hit omnichannel merchants hardest: 41% of these merchants believe that failing to provide local customers’ desired payment options, including those common within APAC consumers’ home countries, is causing their eCommerce shoppers to abandon their carts,” the study states.

The Emerging APAC Opportunity: Local Payment Methods edition

With only 15% of marketplace retailers and 20% of omnichannel retailers accepting local wallets, respectively, it’s a massive, missed opportunity from a region that loves online shopping.

“Even more troubling is that many of these U.S.-, U.K.- and Canada-based merchants seem entirely unaware of how integral local wallets are to the APAC market. Just 1.8% of these merchants believe that APAC customers want to pay using local mobile wallets. This illustrates how pervasive this cognitive dissonance truly is,” the study states.

The Emerging APAC Opportunity: Local Payment Methods edition