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SB Payment Service Corp. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Jun Shimba), a subsidiary of SoftBank Corp., conducted a questionnaire survey on the usage of payment methods on e-commerce sites that sell goods and digital content services ^*1, and presents excerpts of the survey results. This is the sixth time the survey has been released, following those in 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2024.

• *1 Merchandise sales: E-commerce sites selling clothing, daily necessities, cosmetics, food, medicines, etc.
  Digital content and services: E-commerce sites offering games, e-books, video streaming services, food delivery, tickets, etc.

<Survey results>
As for the most frequently used payment methods, "Credit Card Payment" will decrease by 20-30% from 2018 to 2025, while "PayPay (Online Payment)" and "RakutenPay(Online)" will grow.

When asked about payment methods they most frequently use when paying for goods or digital content/services on e-commerce sites, the most popular answer was "Credit Card Payment" (over 52.2%), followed by "PayPay (Online Payment)" (over 32.0%) and "RakutenPay(Online)" (over 13.3%).
Comparing the results of the same survey conducted five times in the past (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024), we found that the percentage of people using "Credit Card Payment" has decreased by 20-30% from 2018 to 2025, and is on a yearly downward trend. In addition, "PayPay (Online Payment)" and "RakutenPay(Online)" are on the rise and are on track to overtake "Credit Card Payment." In addition, we found that "CVS Payment" and "cash on delivery" for purchasing goods, and "direct debit" and "Pay-easy" for paying for digital content and services are also on the decline.

Users of all carriers use "PayPay (Online Payment)" more than the QR code payment provided by each carrier.

Looking at the results by mobile phone carrier, when paying for goods or digital content/services, users of all carriers chose "Credit Card Payment" as the number one choice, followed by "PayPay (Online Payment)" in second place. When paying for digital content/services in particular, SoftBank users chose "PayPay (Online Payment)" (45.3%) almost on par with "Credit Card Payment" (45.9%). Additionally, for users of NTT Docomo, KDDI, and Rakuten Mobile, QR code payment offered by each carrier ranked third.

Consumers use payment methods for different items, such as "BNPL（Buy now pay later）" for high-priced items, clothing, and fashion accessories, "Mobile Carrier Billing" for digital content, and "PayPay (Online Payment)" for food delivery.

When asked about the most commonly used payment methods when purchasing goods on e-commerce sites by product type, "Credit Card Payment" was ranked first for the purchase of daily consumer goods such as clothing and accessories, daily necessities, household goods, pet-related products, and food and beverages, followed by "PayPay (Online Payment)" at about 20%. In addition, it was found that there is a need for "BNPL（Buy now pay later）" when purchasing high-priced products (furniture and interior, automobile-related, household appliances, PCs, peripherals) and clothing and accessories.

When paying for digital content such as games, e-books, videos and music, "Credit Card Payment" ranked first, "PayPay (Online Payment)" ranked second and "Mobile Carrier Billing" ranked third, showing that there is a higher affinity with "Mobile Carrier Billing" compared to other products.
When paying for services, "Credit Card Payment" was overwhelmingly popular for tickets, travel, and accommodation at over 74.4%, while for food Credit Card Payment" PayPay (Online Payment)" was the second most popular at 37.4%. We also found that there is a need for "direct debit" when paying for insurance, securities, utility bills, and taxes.

In addition to Credit Card Payment, there is a high demand for QR code payments such as PayPay (Online Payment), RakutenPay(Online), dPayment, and au PAY (online payments).

When we asked men and women payment methods they most frequently use when purchasing goods on EC sites, the results showed that for both men and women, the top choice was "Credit Card Payment," followed by "PayPay (Online Payment)" and "RakutenPay(Online)." "d Pay" was also chosen as one of the top choices, with over 2.6% choosing it.

When we asked men and women payment methods they most frequently use when paying for digital content and services, the top choice for both men and women was "Credit Card Payment," followed by "PayPay (Online Payment)." For men, "d Pay" was third, and for women, "RakutenPay(Online)" was third. "au PAY (online payment)" was also popular, showing that there is a high demand for QR code payment.

If a frequently used payment methods is not available, about 60% of both men and women will abandon the service without making a purchase.

When asked what they would do if their preferred payment methods was unavailable when paying for goods or digital content/services on an e-commerce site, over 56.5% of both men and women said they would abandon the site without making a purchase. Of these, over 44.8% ^*2 intended to purchase on another e-commerce site or in in-store, meaning that even people with a strong desire to purchase abandon the site due to a lack of payment methods. Providing payment methods that meet users' needs is an important factor in increasing purchase rates.

• *2 This figure excludes people who abandon purchases from the total number of people who search for the same product on other websites, purchase at in-store, or abandon purchases.

The majority of respondents frequently use "Amazon" and "Rakuten Ichiba," and about 30% use "Yahoo! Shopping."

When asked which EC malls they frequently use, the majority of both men and women answered that they frequently use "Amazon" and "Rakuten Ichiba." In addition, more than 28.4% of both men and women frequently use "Yahoo! Shopping," and it was found that women use "ZOZOTOWN," "Qoo10," "SHEIN," and "Temu" more frequently than men.

Compared to 2024, the tendency to purchase online or search for e-commerce sites where they can buy at a lower price will increase by more than 10% across all generations, and people in their 20s will use e-commerce sites via social media more than other generations.

When asked if there had been any changes in the use of merchandise sites compared to 2024, the percentage of people who answered "I've started looking for EC sites where I can buy things cheaper" tended to be high across all generations. In addition, many people in their teens to 30s said they "have started buying more online than in in-store," while 15.2% of people in their 20s said they "have started using EC sites via SNS (LINE, Instagram, etc.)," indicating that the affinity between SNS and merchandise sites is increasing among younger generations.

When asked if there had been any changes compared to 2024 regarding payments on retail sites, many teenagers said that "the number of payment methods I use has increased," while many people in their 20s said that "I have started using multiple payment methods for each e-commerce site," "I have started choosing methods that allow me to pay easily and without hassle," and "I have started choosing payment methods that prioritize campaigns and point rewards."

SB Payment Service Corp. a PSP agency that offers many of payment methods essential for e-commerce sites. If you are a business starting an online business or would like to expand your lineup of payment methods, please contact SB Payment Service Corp.

Download the full survey results here.

Physical version: https://www.sbpayment.jp/whitepapers/download/survey-netshop.html

Digital Content/Service Edition: https://www.sbpayment.jp/whitepapers/download/survey-digital-service.html

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・You may freely reproduce both the illustrations and text from this survey.
- The copyright of this survey belongs to SB Payment Service Corp., but permission for use is granted to those who meet the following conditions of use.

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