The Global Overview of Payments Providers 2023
Key Actors and Trends Shaping the B2B and B2C Ecommerce Payments Industry
The global market for ecommerce payments was estimated at USD 206.7 billion in 2022, and it is projected to reach a revised size of USD 612.1 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 14.5% over the analysis period 2022–2030. In spite of this intimidating number, 2022 was the year in which previously rising trends have begun to be finetuned, more tailored to the market than ever. After the decade debuted with a boom in ecommerce volume, and technology needed to keep up with demand, in 2022 payment enablers and merchants focused more on personalising experiences and technologies, paying close attention to specific verticals.
Transaction security has been centre stage, and real-time payments have become a reality — with national real-time payments rails gaining traction all over the world, and FedNow being scheduled for launch in 2023. 2022 also marked a significant transformation for global economies, with notable shifts in consumer spending patterns due to inflation, supply chain disruptions, and higher interest rates. Moreover, from B2B commerce to the meteoric rise of embedded finance, the market seems to have found a balance between offering a seamless customer experience and securing a viable liquidity runway amid talks of recession. Therefore, building resilience and hypercompetitive services has never been more current.
This is the environment, both on a B2C and B2B level, where ecommerce and payments professionals have a duty to stay ahead of the curve. The Paypers is coming to meet the need for clarity and comprehension of the ecommerce payments ecosystem, with the fourth edition of the most relevant source of information in this context: The Global Overview of Payments Providers 2023 — Key Actors and Trends Shaping the B2B and B2C Ecommerce Payments Industry.
We constructed the report following a balanced mix of educational content, think-pieces on strategies, and analyses on the B2B and B2C ecommerce payments ecosystem, all rounded with raw data on the most relevant players in the field. Our goal, with this report, started and built itself on arming payment facilitators and merchants with everything they need to know about their peers and potential clients, so as to make informed decisions and learn how to grow and succeed year by year in this ever-fluctuating market.
Pivotal lessons, structure, and new additions
In a world where transactions happen in the blink of an eye and borders dissolve with the click of a button, staying ahead of the developments in the ecommerce payments space has never been more important. Within the pages of this report, we delve deep into the complex landscape of this dynamic sector, presenting a rundown of key topics and actors reshaping the industry as we speak.
Our collaborators from Flagship Advisory Partners debuted this year’s edition of the report with an extensive and exhaustive view of the payments ecosystem by pinpointing not only the key trends that shaped the market over the last year but also the most important names needed to be taken into account when it comes to relevant case studies in the field.
Whilst 2021 saw new heights in the payments industry, in 2022 M&A activity registered a significant drop. Nonetheless, it still represents one of the driving forces behind the transformation of this sector. Lending their expert insights to this report, our collaborators from Edgar, Dunn & Company explore four key trends we see today in payments M&A and share their forecast for the rest of 2023. We paired this detailed analysis with telling infographics designed to showcase the bulk of strategic mergers and acquisitions activity at a single glance.
As industry developments drive payments roadmaps and investments around the world, our collaborators from Augmentum Fintech explore this notion in-depth, highlighting the importance of seamless and frictionless transactions in building future value: ‘In the 2024 report, we will see that the investment space recognises that the true value of the fintech sector lies in viewing payments as a vital, but fully emersed part of a transaction value chain. It will then take a few more years before we see in terms of valuations that those executing transactions of any underlying and recognised value, fiat currency, digital currencies, crypto, or even data are the value builders of the future.’ The article is followed by an exploration of strategic investments in the payments industry in Q4 2022 and Q1–Q2 2023.
Moreover, our news editor Estera Sava expertly narrowed down on the last piece of the puzzle when it came to portraying the ecommerce payments ecosystem as a whole, alongside M&As and investments activity: strategic partnerships. In this editorial piece, she analyses the most prolific partnerships that defined and built resilience in the fintech space in Q4 2022 and Q1 2023, from optimising ecommerce infrastructure to specific BNPL use cases, travel payments, and the growth of Tap to Pay tech.
No exploration of the payments industry would be complete without analysing the startups that are redefining this space. This year, we included here an insightful piece by Plug and Play, where our collaborators introduce you to relevant startups to watch, unveiling their unique value propositions and the key developments they are spearheading. The categories included in this overview are SMB tech, e-wallets, Open Banking, B2B payments, decentralised finance, and finance in the metaverse.
Lessons from the payments industry are invaluable, as they provide us with insights into costs, strategies, and partnerships that have proven successful. With this in mind, we worked on refining a dedicated chapter entirely devoted to the strategies employed by companies to further their growth agenda. This section of the report starts with expert insights coming from Banking Circle, as they elaborate on how fintech has evolved so far and where its future might lie. Given the rapid pace at which the payments landscape is evolving, it is of utmost importance to examine the strategies that will further influence this sector. That is why our collaborators from Allyiz share their expertise on the aspects they see as core to the payment strategy in 2023, including new regulations, governance and risk management, economic forecasts, provisions for uncertainty, and the potential challenges faced by payment fintechs. This section of the report concludes with an astute piece by CMSPI covering one major strategic point in the ecommerce field: the top priorities merchants need to consider when choosing the right payments partners.
Mapping, infographics, and company profiles
One of the major roles of this report is delineating and contextualising the main actors of the ecommerce payments world — and we do this by cataloguing this ecosystem through its collection of company profiles, which detail the most relevant features of their portfolio. We complemented this section with an engaging ecosystem mapping — extracting pivotal data from the company profiles and placing them in such a way that the featured companies can be compared and contrasted at a glance — and an infographic of key payment providers in B2B and B2C commerce.
We invite you to take your time exploring The Global Overview of Payments Providers 2023 — Key Actors and Trends Shaping the B2B and B2C Ecommerce Payments Industry, in order to help consolidate your knowledge of the B2C and B2B ecommerce payments ecosystem, to place yourself ahead of the curve when it comes to the current rising trends in this space, and to understand all the intricate details behind the global payments strategy of those who mould this world every day. It is an indispensable resource for any merchant, payment service provider, or financial leader who desires to not only keep up to date, but grow and innovate in this space.
Enjoy your reading!
The Paypers Team
