varied across developing economies, but was typically small

FIGURE 2.1.18 The use and adoption of digital online merchant payments during COVID-19 varied across developing economies, but was typically small

Adults with an account (%), 2021

Made digital online merchant payments for the first time after the start of COVID-19 Made digital online merchant payments, but not for the first time after the start of COVID-19 Did not make digital online merchant payments

Source: Global Findex Database 2021.

The majority of adults making online purchases paid online

Not everyone who buys something online also pays for it online. In many developing economies, people can pay in cash on delivery for internet orders. To understand how common that practice is, the Global Findex 2017 survey asked for the first time how people in developing economies pay for their online purchases. The 2021 edition of the survey refined the question to include the additional option to answer “both” online and in cash. In China, 80 percent of adults bought something online. Virtually all of these buyers also paid for their purchase online (94 percent, including 9 percent who answered “both”). Although the survey did not pose a question about payment platforms, it is likely that many online buyers used popular third-party online and mobile payment platforms such as Alipay and WeChat, which were developed specifically to facilitate online payments. In developing economies, excluding China, 15 percent reported having bought something online (figure 2.1.19). About two-thirds of these buyers (including 15 percent who answered “both”) also paid for their purchase online. In 2017, the majority (53 percent) of online shoppers in developing economies, excluding China, paid with cash on delivery. Thus the 2021 finding indicates a major shift toward online payments for adults making online purchases, which is a small share of the total adults in most developing economies. Indeed, in every economy surveyed in the Middle East and North Africa (excluding Iraq, where 21 percent of adults bought something online), South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa, the share of adults who bought something online was under 20 percent.21

21. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, 31 percent of adults bought something online; however, no question was posed on how those purchases were paid for.