Japan’s card payments market to be worth $742.2b in 2023

Growing consumer preference for electronic payments will push a 7.5% growth in value.

Japan is increasingly moving away from cash and adopting card use, with its card payments market expected to grow by 7.5% in 2023 to reach $742.2b (JPY97.3t).

Growing consumer preference for electronic payments will push the growth, according to a report by data and analytics company GlobalData.

The card payments value in Japan grew by 7.9% in 2022, propelled by a rebound in economic conditions and a rise in consumer spending. This is slightly slower than the 9.3% growth in 2021, although higher than the dismal 1.9% growth in value in 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic and a recession.

“Japan has traditionally been a cash driven society with cash accounting for almost two-thirds of the total payment volume in 2022, noted Kartik Challa, senior banking and payments analyst at GlobalData. 

“However, the use of card payments has been rising since the past few years supported by the concerted efforts by the government coupled with robust payment infrastructure,” Challa noted.

The COVID-19 pandemic further supported the growth of the non-cash payment methods, pushing consumers to switch to digital payments to avoid contracting the virus.