Report: Consumer payment preferences – e-commerce trends in 2025
Each year, Stitch releases a report that looks at how consumers are thinking about payments. Stitch Express has distilled these findings into the most prescient observations for e-commerce businesses ready to take advantage of today’s rising trends.
We surveyed more than 2000 South African consumers across a diverse set of demographics, income levels and locations. The findings, detailed in this report, provide an in-depth view of South Africa’s evolving e-commerce payments landscape, highlight where meaningful changes have occurred over the past year and outline the most significant opportunities for merchants to optimise conversion, customer experience and growth.
What we found: consumer payments trends in e-commerce
South Africa remains a deeply mobile-first economy. More than 90% of internet users access the internet via mobile devices. As of January 2024, there were ~45 million active internet users, representing 74.7% of the population. According to Statista, approximately 77% of e-commerce purchases in South Africa are now made on mobile devices, reinforcing the critical importance of mobile-first optimization for merchants.
At the heart of this mobile-first reality is the evolution of the way South African consumers prefer to pay. When we published our first consumer payments report in early 2023, much of the infrastructure now driving this transformation, including PayShap, Capitec Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay and other digital wallets, was still emerging. At that time, card payments were leading by a wide margin in popularity, while Pay by bank had only just begun gaining traction, with 36% consumer preference compared to card payments at 49%.
Today, a clear shift is underway, as newer and more convenient payment options begin to erode the long-standing dominance of cards as the default online payment method. South African consumers increasingly demand speed, flexibility and safety at checkout, with convenience, security and transparency remaining key drivers of trust and purchasing decisions.
Across all our research, shoppers consistently emphasize the importance of a fast, simple, and secure payment process when deciding where to shop. Merchants who meet these expectations are seeing measurable improvements in conversion, average order value and customer satisfaction.
Key insights:
- Capitec Pay is the 2nd largest alternative payment method in 2025 by preference, with 42% of respondents indicating they used this for the first time in the last year.
- Amongst the top factors that lead to a perceived negative checkout experience are unexpected or additional fees at checkout as well as a poor refund experience
- 56% of customers indicated they would choose one service provider over another if the platform offers fast and seamless payments
- One-click methods including Apple Pay and Google Pay are gaining adoption more quickly for online purchases than most other methods have before - largely due to the seamless, convenient and secure experience they offer
- Buy Now Pay Later is finding a niche for higher-value retail purchases
Download the full report for more
