Egyptian consumers are increasingly opting for digital services when shopping, with 64 per cent having used digital payment methods in the past year and 15 per cent using cash less frequently, according to Mastercard’s Payment Index 2022.
Non-cash forms of payment include tappable smartphone mobile wallets, buy-now-pay-later services, biometrics, payment-enabled wearable technology devices, digital cards, open banking, SMS payments, instant payment services and digital money transfer applications.
Digital finance gives consumers a speedy, convenient and transparent shopping experience, said the report.
Eighty-eight per cent of consumers have used at least one such non-cash payment in the past year.
Thirty-five per cent of these consumers opted for tappable smartphone mobile wallets, 27 per cent chose digital money transfer applications and 24 per cent used QR codes.
Also used for payments were voice assistant services and social media applications.
Security was selected as a reason for using digital payments by 39 per cent of respondents, as well as ease of use and exclusive access to rewards programmes and promotions.
In addition, 31 per cent of Egyptian consumers cited social and environmental benefits, such as sustainability, as reasons to opt for digital payments over cash payments.
Buy-now-pay-later applications are growing increasingly popular in Egypt.
Eighty-one per cent of respondents knew about such services, and 50 per cent reported being comfortable enough to use buy-now-pay-later applications.
Regular users of buy-now-pay-later applications said they use services for planning payments, large purchases and as financial planning tools to increase purchasing power and budget more effectively.
Forty-two per cent of consumers reported being comfortable to share their information with financial applications which provide tools to manage payments.
Digital payments are more popular among Gen Z and millennial consumers.
Forty per cent of Gen Z and millennial consumers have adopted a digital touch-free payment method in the last year,
While still concerned about privacy of data, younger generations have fewer security concerns than older generations, said the report.
“Egypt is a fertile ground for all that is innovative and digital,” said Adam Jones, country general manager of Mastercard’s Middle East and North Africa Central division.
“It’s wonderful to see consumers in Egypt adopting different payment options such as payment apps and buy-now-pay-later and discovering more of the digital economy’s benefits.”
Such payment behaviours are expected to continue in Egypt, said the report.
