TLDR; Not everyone in the world has a credit or debit card, but they still have money to spend and love games. The App Store and Google Pay are most compatible with credit/debit funding and many people don't use Apple Pay nor Google Pay often. Allowing consumers to buy via a Webshop with a wide range of online payment methods should deliver increased payer reach and more revenue. It's difficult to exactly quantify the upside, but live testing of a webshop will quickly allow game devs to figure it out.

In the ever-evolving landscape of mobile gaming, developers are constantly seeking new avenues to monetize their creations and reach more paying players. While the App Store and Google Play remain dominant platforms, there's a vast world of potential paying customers outside these ecosystems, particularly in regions where alternative payment methods (APMs) reign supreme. If a game doesn’t allow everyone to pay with their preferred payment method then it introduces additional friction, which hurts purchase volume and frequency.

But how much upside can APMs even deliver? We’ll dive into that in this article.

First, WTF are APMs?

APMs encompass a variety of payment options beyond traditional credit and debit cards, including digital wallets, bank transfers, prepaid cards, and carrier billing. In the case of mobile gaming specifically, APMs are payment methods that aren't readily available via the App Store's and Google Pay's native payment systems. Credit and debit cards are the primary facilitators of payments via the walled-gardens. But what about people who prefer other methods, and in many cases don't even own a credit or debit card? APMs should increase reach, conversion, revenue, and LTV by streamlining the path to purchase for people who don't use debit/credit cards.

So what’s the upside?

Let’s look to some payment preference data to see how many consumers prefer other payment methods and brands that aren’t supported by Apple and Google. And let's also look at the top-grossing markets in gaming and the popularity of APMs in those key countries. That will help us quantify the spend that can be unlocked by APMs.

All of the following insights are from Statistica’s Q4 2023 Consumer Insights Global platform.

Credit and debit cards aren’t the most popular online payment method everywhere.

Credit and debit cards are the primary way people make in-app purchases through the App Store and Google Play. They’re also very popular for online payments, but they aren’t the most popular online payment methods in countries like India, Poland, and South Africa. In those markets, consumers use online payment services (like PayPal) or prepaid cards/vouchers more than credit or debit cards.

It’s important to include prepaid cards/vouchers as an APM here as they are not accepted in the App Store or Google Play without using extra steps via Apple Cash or Google Pay accounts, which again may not be a familiar payment path for many, which we'll cover next.

This Statistica data only covers 21 countries, but credit and debit cards are infamously uncommon in developing regions and markets across Latin America, Africa, and South East Asia. In Africa, only 4% of people have credit cards and only 19% own a debit card. In SEA, only 10% of people own a credit card and only 44% own a debit card. And in LatAm, only 15% own a credit card and 41% own a debit card.

But aren’t Apple Pay and Google Pay the most popular online payment services everywhere? Well, no.

In 13 of the 21 countries tracked by Statistica, Apple Pay and Google Pay aren’t among the top 3 most popular online payment services; including, Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Finland, Germany, India, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, and Sweden.

Essentially, game developers aren’t tapping into the most popular payment methods in 62% of those markets when they rely solely on the App Store and Google Play to sell their in-game goods and services. This adds friction and hurts conversion at the most crucial moment — checkout.

And according to Data.ai’s State of Mobile Gaming 2024 report, some of those markets are very important as they drive some of the highest revenue by country for the mobile gaming industry. Apple Pay and Google Pay aren’t among the most popular payment brands in 50% of the top 10 revenue-generating markets across both Apple & Android (i.e., Australia, China, Germany, Japan, and South Korea for Apple; and Australia, Austria, Brazil, Germany, Japan, and South Korea for Android).

Imagine the potential of streamlining checkout with APMs in the top money-making markets?

So what are the most popular payment methods in those high-grossing markets?

Well let’s take a look, shall we?

As you can see, in these top-grossing markets, many are more comfortable with PayPal or local payment services like Mercado Pago, Alipay, N Pay, etc. than Apple Pay or Google Pay.

So now what?

If this data says anything, it’s that there’s a big opportunity to reach new users who are more likely to make purchases via APMs like PayPal. This APM upside is one reason why mobile game Webshops are becoming more popular as they allow players to pay the way they want, instead of being forced to use Apple’s and Google’s native options. Webshops also allow for highly custom APMs by country and a seamless user experience where users can store their payment methods for fast checkout that's secure.

Every mobile game company should take a hard look at this opportunity and consider launching a webshop to test how much upside they can capture. We’re here to help with our plug-and-play Sanlo Webshop that makes it easy to get going, and manage long-term by integrating with your existing tech stack.