Last year, the amount spent in Korea through mobile devices such as smartphones and smartwatches exceeded that spent through physical cards for the first time. Thanks to the expansion of mobile payments, the average daily card usage surpassed 3 trillion won (approximately US$2.23 billion).
According to data from the 2023 Domestic Payment Trends report released by the Bank of Korea on March 25, the total amount of payments made through mobile devices last year reached 1.47 trillion won (US$1.10 billion), representing a 10.8 percent increase compared to the previous year. This accounted for 50.5 percent of the total payment volume, exceeding payments made through physical cards, which amounted to 1.44 trillion won.
Mobile payments include transactions where users make payments by interacting with payment terminals, such as card readers or QR code scanners, using their mobile devices. The proportion of mobile payments has surged from 38.6 percent in 2019 to 44.1 percent in 2020, 47.1 percent in 2021, 48.4 percent in 2022, and further to 50.5 percent in 2023.
When mobile payments are categorized, the usage proportion of card-based convenient payment services, which employ easy authentication methods like passwords or fingerprint recognition for mobile transactions, stood at 48.5 percent. This figure has almost reached 50 percent in merely four years, surging from 35.1 percent in 2019. It seems that consumers who prioritize convenience are growing in number, resulting in an increase in spending on simplified payments.
The total annual card payment volume amounted to an average of 3.3 trillion won per day. This represents a 6.2 percent increase compared to the previous year’s volume of 3.1 trillion won. However, the growth rate was reduced compared to the previous year’s increase of 13.5 percent due to factors such as the weakening momentum in private consumption recovery.