In Thailand, usage of e-wallets continues to gain in popularity, driven by infrastructure enhancements, real-time payment efforts and a push from the government to promote a move towards cashless transactions.
Usage of cash carried on its decline last year, accounting for 56% of point-of-sale (POS) transaction value. The figure represents a 7 percentage point decline compared with 63% in 2021, according to FIS’ Global Payments Report 2023.
E-wallets, meanwhile, saw increased traction, making up for 25% of e-commerce and 23% of POS transaction value. The shares make e-wallets the second most used payment method for both e-commerce and POS transactions in 2022, the report says.
2022 e-commerce payment methods in Thailand, Source: The Global Payments Report 2023, FIS
2022 point-of-sale payment methods in Thailand, Source: The Global Payments Report 2023, FIS
What is the most popular e-wallet in Thailand? A survey of Thai consumers conducted as part of the annual report reveals that TrueMoney Wallet was the country’s leading wallet in 2022, with 56% of respondents indicating it was their preferred wallet.
TrueMoney Wallet is an award-winning digital payment and financial platform which claims over 55 million customers across seven countries, namely Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and most recently Malaysia.
The platform allows users to access financial services with convenience, accessibility and affordability through a mobile app, providing a wide range of solutions including cashless payments, mobile top-ups, bill payments, international remittances, insurance coverage, loans, savings accounts, mutual fund investment accounts, and much more. It runs in tandem with a network of over 88,000 physical agents whom facilitate cash-ins and cash-outs.
TrueMoney Wallet is operated by TrueMoney, a regional fintech company in Southeast Asia under Ascend Money, a joint venture between The Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group) and Ant Group.
Results of the 2022 FIS survey are consistent with data from Statista, which claims that TrueMoney Wallet was Thailand’s leading e-wallet in 2020 with a market share of 52.6%.
According to the German merchant and consumer statistic company, TrueMoney Wallet was followed by Rabbit Line Pay, another prominent mobile wallet app in Thailand with a market share of 24.7%.
Rabbit Line Pay is an integrated online and offline payment platform embedded in Line, a Japanese messaging app popular in many countries throughout Asia including Thailand. The platform offers users convenient and quick payment services, supporting online and offline payments, seamless money transfers to other Line users, cinema ticket purchases, utility bill payments, and more.
Rabbit Line Pay is one of Thailand’s leading digital payment platforms, serving an estimated 8.5 million registered users in 2021. The company was established in 2011 and is a joint venture between Line, Thailand’s leading messaging app with more than 50 million users, and Rabbit, an e-money service provider in Thailand.
According to Statista estimates, the client base of both TrueMoney Wallet and Rabbit Line Pay are expected to grow by over 200% between 2020 and 2025, owing to soaring adoption of digital payments brought about the COVID-19 pandemic.
ShopeePay, mPay, GrabPay follow suit
After TrueMoney Wallet and Rabbit Line Pay, the Statista report claims ShopeePay was the third largest mobile wallet in Thailand in 2021, recording a market share of 8.1%.
ShopeePay is a mobile wallet under SeaMoney, the digital payment and financial services arm of Singaporean consumer Internet firm Sea. Users can use ShopeePay as a standalone app to purchase game credits, mobile top-ups and movie tickets, or pay at partner merchants using QR codes. Users can also opt for the payment method on the e-commerce Shopee app and benefit from exclusive deals, free shipping vouchers and other rewards.
Formerly known as AirPay, the service was initially aimed at serving the needs of gamer payments for online games. AirPay was rebranded to ShopeePay in 2021 to provide a broader range of lifestyle products.
According to Maneerut Anulomsombut, chief executive of Sea (Thailand), the firm generated THB 153 million (US$4.4 million) in profit from ShopeePay in 2021, making the e-wallet service the firm’s most profitable business in Thailand.
She added that ShopeePay had grown tremendously in 2021, with the number of ShopeePay users outside of major cities increasing by over 50% from 2020.
mPay was the third largest e-wallet in Thailand, recording a market share of 4.9% in 2020, data from Statista show.
mPay is a mobile wallet offered by one of Thailand’s largest telco operators, Advanced Info Service (AIS). The app allows users to pay online using their phone number, bank account, or through mobile/online banking; send money their friends and families; pay their bills; and more.
According to a report by The Nation, mPay had around 1.4 million active users in 2015.
Finally, Statista names GrabPay as the fifth largest mobile wallet in Thailand, recording a 4% market share in 2020.
GrabPay is a e-wallet integrated within Southeast Asia’s super-app Grab. Boasting over 100 million users, Grab offers a variety of services including ride hailing, food and grocery services, hotel and travel recommendations, investment and insurance, and online payments.
All of Grab’s services can be paid for using GrabPay. In addition, GrabPay can be used to pay for online as well as in-store purchases.
Besides operating in its home base of Singapore and in Thailand, Grab also has services available in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Most recently, the firm expanded its digital financial services offering in Thailand, announcing in November 2022 the PayLater by Grab product.
The solution provides Grab users with the possibility to opt to pay for all of Grab services the following month in one single bill, providing them with enhanced flexibility as well as extra benefits across mobility as well as food, parcel, and on-demand everyday goods deliveries.
Besides e-wallet usage, the FIS report notes that real-time payments also increased considerably in 2022. Last year, PromptPay, Thailand’s real-time system, accounted for 42% of e-commerce transaction value in 2022, up from 38% in 2021.
PromptPay is a key component of Thailand’s government initiative to transform the country’s financial infrastructure and facilitate the transition towards cashless transactions.
Authorities have been working over the past years on linking PromptPay with other similar real-time payment systems across Southeast Asia to facilitate cross-border transactions.
PromptPay and Singapore’s PayNow real-time retail payment systems were linked in April 2021, and linkages for QR code payments have also been established with Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia, data from the central bank show.
Overview of Thailand’s Cross-border Payment Linkages, Source: Bank of Thailand, April 2023
