What We're Up to

2Checkout Releases 2020 Global Digital Commerce Benchmark Study

Security software products and subscriptions continue to be in high demand. Most countries around the globe experienced significant year over year increases in online sales of digital goods, due to the COVID-19 pandemic

ATLANTA, GA - October 15, 2020: 2Checkout (now Verifone), the leading all-in-one monetization platform for global businesses, today released their H1 2020 Benchmark Report on Digital Commerce Trends in global online sales of software, SaaS, digital goods, and online services. The Digital Commerce Benchmark is based on millions of worldwide transactions moving through 2Checkout's platform between January 2020 and June 2020. 2Checkout continuously tracks trends and statistics, empowering merchants to make better business decisions.

Key Findings:

• Endpoint security software continues to show widespread demand
• Subscriptions continued to expand, now claiming 79.5% of total online sales of digital goods and services, 2.5% over 2019
• Visa and Mastercard continue to lead payment method preferences at a global level, with local options gaining traction in several markets
• 2Checkout's list of the top 10 countries of digital goods sales remains consistent with the previous year, with all of these countries seeing noteworthy increases in sales year over year, attributed mostly to the COVID-19 pandemic

Key trends from the report include:

• Endpoint Security Software Remains Popular
• In the first half of the year, this category was among the most popular online purchases of digital goods. Multimedia tools and video editing services were the next most purchased categories. In the United States the most purchased digital products were services (mostly financial), endpoint security software and software utilities. Other popular digital services by country specific overall sales, include: the UK focused on security, multimedia and utilities software tools, Canada similarly, with education services amongst top purchases, while Australia added TV streaming to the list.

• Subscription Sales on the Rise
• The growth in subscriptions continues steadily, with 79.5% of total online sales of software, and digital goods in the last 6 months coming from subscription-based products and services, compared to 77% in 2019, and 76% in 2018. Subscriptions came a long way, from a fifty-fifty split in 2012.

• Variations in Payment Methods
• Credit cards such as Visa and Mastercard continue to be the most popular payment methods globally, accounting for 63% of global online sales, followed by PayPal at 23% and American Express at 4%. Local and regional payment methods are not to be ignored and continue to hold a solid percentage of sales in several countries such as Alipay in China (62%), iDEAL in the Netherlands (55%), the Boleto in Brazil (30%), followed by local cards with installments (26%), as well as Carte Bancaire in France holding 23%.

• Movements Amongst the Top 10 Countries
• The United States once again maintains its lead in online sales of software, SaaS and online services, with 48% of sales worldwide, followed by the UK, and France with a bit over 5% each. Germany, Canada and Australia are next, with Spain getting ahead of the Netherlands, which comes at position 10. 2Checkout's ten largest markets accounted for 79% of all online sales in the first half of this year, comparable to their standing in 2019. The top ten non-English-speaking countries account for 22% of global software sales, only a 2% decrease from 2019.

• COVID-19 Impact on Digital Goods Sales, by Country
• The highest year over year growth of online sales of digital goods and services amongst the top 10 countries was registered by Italy, with a 50% increase, followed by Spain, with a 48% increase - the two established economies that went into an aggressive lockdown at the beginning of the year. The United States has seen a 20% year over year growth, the smallest increase among the top 10 countries. A notable, atypical increase was also registered by Russia, at 3%.

• Additional Revenue Sources
• There are several additional revenue sources that have proven consistent value. Affiliate-generated sales continue to show strength as an additional marketing channel for the software industry. Returns held strong this year at 24% for companies connected to 2Checkout's award-winning Avangate Affiliate Network. Additional revenue was generated from merchants employing promotional tools influencing 36% of revenues (3% increase from 2019) and cross-selling and upselling tactics accounting for 15% of total sales, on average.

Wrap-up

Online sales of digital goods have taken center stage during the past two quarters, as people worldwide have moved to working and learning remotely. Subscription sales continue their steady raise, showing a strong appetite on the consumer and business side for this model. As for payment preferences, Visa, Mastercard and PayPal's global advantage aside, local options maintain their strength in certain countries. This makes offering a wider palette of choices paramount as shoppers become more sophisticated. Finally, additional marketing and merchandising tools are proving effective especially during the COVID pandemic where more shoppers have turned to the online channel.

For more insights, please view the 2Checkout Digital Commerce Benchmark - H1 2020 infographic.