Overview of the Euro Area retail payment market - instrument mix, use cases, digital maturity, infrastructure and outlook to 2027.
~179 bn
Retail transactions per year
Non-cash share
55%
of retail transactions
PDM Index 2024
26.4
digital maturity score
PoS terminals
59
per 1,000 inhabitants
Instant payments
44%
of credit transfers
Payment cards
2.86
cards per person
Exhibit 1
Cash remains the largest instrument at the point of sale - digital payments dominate e-commerce and are growing in P2P.
Point of sale~150 bn trx.
52396
84%of total
E-commerce~22 bn trx.
4829158
12%of total
Person-to-person~7 bn trx.
4136177
4%of total
CashCardsMobile / e-payTransfers & debitsOther
Source: Payment Data Monitor, based on ECB and national central bank payments statistics and the ECB SPACE study. Shares may not sum to 100% due to rounding.
Exhibit 2
Across all use cases, cash and cards account for 83% of Euro Area retail transactions.
Cash
~80 bn
45%
Cards
~68 bn
38%
Mobile / e-pay
~18 bn
10%
Other
~8 bn
5%
Transfers & debits
~5 bn
3%
Source: Payment Data Monitor, based on ECB and national central bank payments statistics and the ECB SPACE study. Shares may not sum to 100% due to rounding.
Exhibit 3
The PDM Digital Maturity Index shows a market in transition - e-commerce and mobile wallets offer the largest upside.
26.4/ 100
Non-cash share55%
E-commerce share12%
Mobile wallets at PoS12%
Index = equally weighted average of the three shares. Mobile wallets measured as share of digital point-of-sale payments. Source: Payment Data Monitor, based on ECB and national central bank payments statistics and the ECB SPACE study.