We believe the future of shopping includes a world of buyers who prefer mobile payments and the convenience of digital wallets, unconstrained by platforms and systems. As we evolve the payments experience on our platform, we’re thinking about the 179 million active buyers in eBay’s marketplace and the new buyers we want to reach. We’re thinking of Millennials who are leading the way with higher adoption rates of mobile payments, whether it’s in person, online or to friends and family via a mobile device. The opportunity is even clearer when we look at the emergence of Generation Z, which studies suggest is looking forward to making more and more transactions on mobile.
Starting in early April, buyers purchasing from sellers in our managed payments experience will be able to use Google Pay as a payment option. This update further solidifies our commitment to customers by offering new, convenient ways to pay. And since we began accepting Apple Pay as a payment option in our eBay managed payments experience, we have seen over 1 in 10 iOS transactions made through this method. We aim to provide the same convenience to owners of Android devices and other Google Pay users. The global market share of Android is 87% and, together, these two digital wallets have a combined 111 million global users. As we look to expand the managed payments experience beyond the U.S. this year, the immense global reach of Android is part of why we’re so excited to be able to offer buyers new payment options.
We’re going to continue to add payment options to give buyers more choice. For example, we’re currently working on our next integration to accept PayPal as a payment option in our managed payments experience, which you’ll hear more about soon.
Technology is evolving quickly with consumers demanding frictionless experiences more and more. We’re already starting to see the commerce industry being shaped by more seamless and automated payment experiences. That means a shift in how we authenticate payments.
Moving Forward at Lightning Speed
Transactions are beginning to feel almost invisible because of technologies like mobile wallets, which have been adopted by over 945 million people in 2018 worldwide. This number is expected to grow to over 1.3 billion in 2021. Investing in the future of payments by integrating digital wallets and mobile payment platforms is an incredible opportunity to serve our customers today and build the right infrastructure for tomorrow.
Shoppers want intuitive, quick and easy ways to pay. Imagine seeing a pair of sneakers at a basketball game that you love, and then snapping a photo that acts as a search query to surface a listing of those exact sneakers on eBay. A tap or two later, you will have paid and put your phone away. Making purchases can take mere seconds and be as easy as a few taps on the mobile screen you hold in your hand. It will be that frictionless sooner than you think.
With these new payment options and those we’re looking to add in the future, we’re increasing customer choice and making the buying experience easier and faster. When you come to shop on eBay, we want you to be inspired and find exactly what you love. You shouldn’t have to think about how you will pay.
Furthermore, we expect off-eBay platforms and distributed commerce to play a critical part in the shopping experience. The internet brought commerce online to those who previously didn’t have physical access to specific stores. Advanced technologies like augmented reality and computer vision are bringing that digital experience into the real world. We envision a future where shopping isn’t an errand — it’s an action or voice command with a multitude of devices creating natural environments in which to shop and sell. Those experiences require the flexibility and control that our managed payments model will provide. We’re excited to see how this could come to life on our platform through the future acceptance of local currencies and even more convenient mobile shopping experiences.
The Future Insists On Global Opportunities
With the growth in internet access, more and more people from all corners of the globe are empowered to discover items they love. In our hyper-connected world, making purchases across borders is becoming more frequent. And as ubiquitous as it seems, ecommerce's market share is modest compared to the multitrillion-dollar global commerce market, which is becoming more and more digitized every day.
However, payments is a gating factor for many people around the world who need a familiar way to pay in order to shop. International shoppers might only have access to cash, stored-value cards or carrier-based mobile payment options. We can’t fully realize this global opportunity for our eBay sellers until we solve that payments barrier.
This is the gap that we’re striving to fill with our new managed payments experience, which we’ll continue to enhance with more features and roll out to more sellers in the coming months. Our managed payments experience gives eBay the opportunity to create a fully modern marketplace, meeting the demand for new ways to pay and allowing sellers to reach previously inaccessible buyers. Simply put, more things are possible at eBay because we’re managing payments.
We’ve already made huge steps in our journey and are just getting started. With the flexibility that payment intermediation offers eBay, we’re able to give buyers more payment choices, like Google Pay, and adapt to changing consumer preferences. By the time we’ve rolled out the managed payments experience internationally at scale, buyers will see more flexible payment options relevant to their preferences, whether they’re paying on mobile or using local currencies in countries outside of the U.S. Sellers will have a streamlined experience with a single place to manage their business and new payment options to attract buyers. As we think about the evolution of ecommerce and where we’re going, our eyes are clear and focused sharply on the horizon.