MasterPass Sees a Surge in Everyday Purchases in Asia-Pacific

Consumers in the Asia-Pacific region no longer view the MasterPass wallet as an option only for big-ticket purchases.

With MasterPass now available in Australia, New Zealand, China, Singapore and Taiwan, the card brand says the digital payments platform transactions increased by 38% in 2014. In 2013, Australia was the first market where MasterPass launched, even preceding MasterCard's home in the U.S.

Much of the momentum comes from consumers using MasterPass for everyday purchases such as coffee, fast-food items, transportation or entertainment tickets, MasterCard states in a June 10 press release. The brand's deployment of MasterPass for in-app purchases has increased it use for less expensive purchases.

MasterCard data on e-commerce transactions in Asia/Pacific last year revealed that seven of the top 10 most frequent purchase categories had average purchase sizes of less than $60. In 2013, just three of 10 categories fell below the $60 threshold.

The 10 categories included phone bills, utility bills and online music stores, with an average purchase price of $48.

MasterPass is available to more than 40 million consumers across the Asia/Pacific region. Nearly 250,000 merchants worldwide currently accept MasterPass, the card brand said. MasterPass is currently available in 17 countries.

"This upward trend is encouraging and proves that MasterPass is a solution that addresses the needs of today's consumers, the savvy online shopper who wants speed and ease but values security at the same time," Raj Dhamodharan, MasterCard's group head of emerging payments in Asia/Pacific, stated in the release.

MasterCard's most recent online shopping survey shows that 86.7% of consumers in Asia/Pacific made at least one online purchase in the past three months. And 90% said security of payments was a key concern when shopping online.

Just last week, the Wayfair network of e-commerce home improvement retailers introduced MasterPass for mobile commerce purchases.