Data Point: Nearly 50% of Activities Comprising the CE Index Are Not Commerce Related

We begin to think buying and selling are the main point of digital transformation, while payments and commerce in a broader sense are crucial functions of a more varied ecosystem.

For “Benchmarking The World’s Digital Transformation,” a PYMNTS and Stripe collaboration, we surveyed over 15,100 consumers across 11 countries in January and February 2022, exploring numerous dimensions of the ConnectedEconomy™ Index, even if not directly tied to payments.

We found lots of room to grow, opportunities to enjoy new experiences, and yes, ways to pay.

• Worldwide digital engagement has attained just 27% of its potential

With 84% of the world’s population owning a smartphone and more than 80% having broadband access, conditions are good for digital transformation. However, our research finds that just collectively we’re only about a quarter of the way there.

“The CE Index score for these 11 countries shows that digital engagement worldwide has reached 27% of its full potential across the 10 pillars that represent digital transformation, revealing substantial progress but also a massive upside for the decades to come.”

• Consumers are nearly 40% more engaged in digital channels not made for commerce

Why a consumer engages with a digital product or service says everything about their intentions — the difference between doing business and just having fun — and that end up shaping the nature and quality of those experiences from the consumer viewpoint.

Per the study, “Consumers are nearly 40% more engaged, overall, in the channels that are not purpose-built for transacting. Embedding payments into those high-engagement but low-transactional activities will both accelerate digital transformation and contribute to the growth of the digital-inclusive GDP over time.”

• 55% of in-store and 49% of digital transactions are paid with network-branded cards

Despite myriad new options, we found that card-based payments (network-branded cards, e.g., Visa and Mastercard) are the most widely used payment type in all 11 countries studied.

But “businesses would miss out on serving more than half of their online customers if they only offered card products at physical or digital checkout. Digital wallets represent nearly two-thirds (61%) of the 51% of all digital transactions that are not made using cards,” per the study.

See it now: Benchmarking The World’s Digital Transformation