PayPal is the top choice among US mobile wallet users for online shopping

Among US adults, the use of mobile payment apps online versus in-store is quite balanced. However, when it comes to PayPal, 36% of users prefer to use the platform online, compared to 29% who opt for in-store use, as per CivicScience data.

In the second quarter of 2023, PayPal saw its total payment volume rise by 11%, reaching a big number of $276.5 billion. This increase is a bit lower than the 13% growth they had in the same period in 2022.

The rise in online shopping is mainly because of smartphones. Nearly 90% of the sales that happen on mobile devices come from people shopping on their smartphones, as we predicted. We think that by 2027, smartphones will be part of almost half of all the things people buy online in the US.

Young people from Generation Z, who are comfortable with technology, are also helping online sales grow. According to Insider Intelligence, there will be around 45.5 million young digital shoppers from Gen Z in the US in 2023. And this number is expected to go up to about 61.1 million by 2027. So, these young buyers are playing a big role in the increase of online shopping. 

Back in 2020, due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, millions of people started using mobile apps to meet their needs. Therefore, time spent in finance apps skyrocketed with an increase of 55% in the United States. In addition to banking apps, customers started using stock market monitoring and trading apps more.

As a result, finance apps generated over 500 million downloads in the US in 2021. The study found that Gen Z tends to use money transfer services, cryptocurrency trading platforms, and neobanks more often. On the other hand, Gen X and baby boomers prefer apps from traditional brokerage firms, banks, and insurance companies.