PayPal Stories Archive

It’s a sign of the times when your nephew asks for digital currency – Pokécoins – for his upcoming birthday instead of money or gifts. And he’s likely not alone – the Digital Goods market is booming. According to Forrester, the compound annual growth rates from 2013 to 2018 for online sales in music, videos, games, and books are 6%, 9%, 12%, and 14% respectively.

 

Digital goods are ideal candidates for cross-border trade, for the obvious reason that there is nothing to ship.  We recently took a closer look at the Digital Goods market and role that the digital economy will play in cross-border trade by commissioning a 10-market, 10,000 consumer research study with SuperData in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, Spain, UAE, UK, and the U.S. The data revealed so many insights about global consumer attitudes, habits and behaviors in the digital goods economy that we decided to release the fastest growing digital goods segments (eBooks and Gaming) results first, just in time for the holidays.

 

For merchants looking to capitalize on the Digital Goods economy, here are some top tips from the findings:

 

Across nine markets, smartphones were the most frequently cited device respondents named when asked which devices they use to play digital games. Russia was the one exception, with those respondents citing PC desktops (71%), followed by smartphones (64%). However, console gamers generally spend more than mobile and computer players as console gaming remains heavily focused on high-priced AAA games, driving up average spending.

 

Understanding when and where consumers purchase eBooks and online games gives merchants the ability to customize offerings to specific customer markets by region. For example, in the U.S. and UK, PC gamers are more likely to wait more than two weeks before deciding to purchase a game or spend money on in-game content. Conversely, consumers in Japan wait less than a week to make similar purchases. U.S. and UK, gamers wait for deals versus making an impulse buy. Additionally, understanding that eBook consumers in Germany, France and Spain spend anywhere between $3 to $5 more per month than readers in the UK, Russia and Poland can help merchants determine where to best spend their advertising dollars.

 

U.S. PC gamers polled were most willing to switch payment providers to obtain discounts or faster service. But in most countries, security concerns were cited as potential reason for switching to a new payment method. In fact, consumers in both Italy, Japan and France were at least 13% more interested in the security of the payment process versus ease of use as a reason to switch payment methods for PC gaming. PayPal’s Buyer Protection for eligible intangible goods is another way consumers can feel more comfortable about purchasing digital goods.

 

More than half of the computer gamers surveyed in Germany, Italy and Spain prefer PayPal for payments. The ease of use and the wide availability of PayPal on the global gaming marketplace helps gamers make purchases quickly and securely. Merchants can capitalize on this behavior by simplifying the buying process with a swift and secure checkout such as PayPal’s OneTouch.

 

Despite mobile games’ popularity and portability, the living room and bedroom were cited as the top two places to play across nine markets. Russia was the one exception, since 68% play while while commuting, making it number two choice behind playing in the bedroom. And on a humorous note, gamers in the U.S. are most likely to play games in the bathroom (56%), while UK mobile gamers are the least likely to play games while on the clock: only 9% play at the office. (So while my nephew might want to spend his Pokécoins on lures to “catch them all” outside on his mobile phone, he might buy incense in the game to lure Pokémon to his couch instead.) The propensity for consumers to play on mobile games at home (with likely a WiFi hotspot in range) might also mean less sensitivity about the data plan consumption required of some games.

 

If you’re interested in learning more about our Digital Goods research in the eBooks and gaming industries, you can check out the full survey of results here.

It’s a sign of the times when your nephew asks for digital currency – Pokécoins – for his upcoming birthday instead of money or gifts. And he’s likely not alone – the Digital Goods market is booming. According to Forrester, the compound annual growth rates from 2013 to 2018 for online sales in music, videos, games, and books are 6%, 9%, 12%, and 14% respectively.

 

Digital goods are ideal candidates for cross-border trade, for the obvious reason that there is nothing to ship.  We recently took a closer look at the Digital Goods market and role that the digital economy will play in cross-border trade by commissioning a 10-market, 10,000 consumer research study with SuperData in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, Spain, UAE, UK, and the U.S. The data revealed so many insights about global consumer attitudes, habits and behaviors in the digital goods economy that we decided to release the fastest growing digital goods segments (eBooks and Gaming) results first, just in time for the holidays.

 

For merchants looking to capitalize on the Digital Goods economy, here are some top tips from the findings:

 

Across nine markets, smartphones were the most frequently cited device respondents named when asked which devices they use to play digital games. Russia was the one exception, with those respondents citing PC desktops (71%), followed by smartphones (64%). However, console gamers generally spend more than mobile and computer players as console gaming remains heavily focused on high-priced AAA games, driving up average spending.

 

Understanding when and where consumers purchase eBooks and online games gives merchants the ability to customize offerings to specific customer markets by region. For example, in the U.S. and UK, PC gamers are more likely to wait more than two weeks before deciding to purchase a game or spend money on in-game content. Conversely, consumers in Japan wait less than a week to make similar purchases. U.S. and UK, gamers wait for deals versus making an impulse buy. Additionally, understanding that eBook consumers in Germany, France and Spain spend anywhere between $3 to $5 more per month than readers in the UK, Russia and Poland can help merchants determine where to best spend their advertising dollars.

 

U.S. PC gamers polled were most willing to switch payment providers to obtain discounts or faster service. But in most countries, security concerns were cited as potential reason for switching to a new payment method. In fact, consumers in both Italy, Japan and France were at least 13% more interested in the security of the payment process versus ease of use as a reason to switch payment methods for PC gaming. PayPal’s Buyer Protection for eligible intangible goods is another way consumers can feel more comfortable about purchasing digital goods.

 

More than half of the computer gamers surveyed in Germany, Italy and Spain prefer PayPal for payments. The ease of use and the wide availability of PayPal on the global gaming marketplace helps gamers make purchases quickly and securely. Merchants can capitalize on this behavior by simplifying the buying process with a swift and secure checkout such as PayPal’s OneTouch.

 

Despite mobile games’ popularity and portability, the living room and bedroom were cited as the top two places to play across nine markets. Russia was the one exception, since 68% play while while commuting, making it number two choice behind playing in the bedroom. And on a humorous note, gamers in the U.S. are most likely to play games in the bathroom (56%), while UK mobile gamers are the least likely to play games while on the clock: only 9% play at the office. (So while my nephew might want to spend his Pokécoins on lures to “catch them all” outside on his mobile phone, he might buy incense in the game to lure Pokémon to his couch instead.) The propensity for consumers to play on mobile games at home (with likely a WiFi hotspot in range) might also mean less sensitivity about the data plan consumption required of some games.

 

If you’re interested in learning more about our Digital Goods research in the eBooks and gaming industries, you can check out the full survey of results here.

It’s a sign of the times when your nephew asks for digital currency – Pokécoins – for his upcoming birthday instead of money or gifts. And he’s likely not alone – the Digital Goods market is booming. According to Forrester, the compound annual growth rates from 2013 to 2018 for online sales in music, videos, games, and books are 6%, 9%, 12%, and 14% respectively.

 

Digital goods are ideal candidates for cross-border trade, for the obvious reason that there is nothing to ship.  We recently took a closer look at the Digital Goods market and role that the digital economy will play in cross-border trade by commissioning a 10-market, 10,000 consumer research study with SuperData in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, Spain, UAE, UK, and the U.S. The data revealed so many insights about global consumer attitudes, habits and behaviors in the digital goods economy that we decided to release the fastest growing digital goods segments (eBooks and Gaming) results first, just in time for the holidays.

 

For merchants looking to capitalize on the Digital Goods economy, here are some top tips from the findings:

 

Across nine markets, smartphones were the most frequently cited device respondents named when asked which devices they use to play digital games. Russia was the one exception, with those respondents citing PC desktops (71%), followed by smartphones (64%). However, console gamers generally spend more than mobile and computer players as console gaming remains heavily focused on high-priced AAA games, driving up average spending.

 

Understanding when and where consumers purchase eBooks and online games gives merchants the ability to customize offerings to specific customer markets by region. For example, in the U.S. and UK, PC gamers are more likely to wait more than two weeks before deciding to purchase a game or spend money on in-game content. Conversely, consumers in Japan wait less than a week to make similar purchases. U.S. and UK, gamers wait for deals versus making an impulse buy. Additionally, understanding that eBook consumers in Germany, France and Spain spend anywhere between $3 to $5 more per month than readers in the UK, Russia and Poland can help merchants determine where to best spend their advertising dollars.

 

U.S. PC gamers polled were most willing to switch payment providers to obtain discounts or faster service. But in most countries, security concerns were cited as potential reason for switching to a new payment method. In fact, consumers in both Italy, Japan and France were at least 13% more interested in the security of the payment process versus ease of use as a reason to switch payment methods for PC gaming. PayPal’s Buyer Protection for eligible intangible goods is another way consumers can feel more comfortable about purchasing digital goods.

 

More than half of the computer gamers surveyed in Germany, Italy and Spain prefer PayPal for payments. The ease of use and the wide availability of PayPal on the global gaming marketplace helps gamers make purchases quickly and securely. Merchants can capitalize on this behavior by simplifying the buying process with a swift and secure checkout such as PayPal’s OneTouch.

 

Despite mobile games’ popularity and portability, the living room and bedroom were cited as the top two places to play across nine markets. Russia was the one exception, since 68% play while while commuting, making it number two choice behind playing in the bedroom. And on a humorous note, gamers in the U.S. are most likely to play games in the bathroom (56%), while UK mobile gamers are the least likely to play games while on the clock: only 9% play at the office. (So while my nephew might want to spend his Pokécoins on lures to “catch them all” outside on his mobile phone, he might buy incense in the game to lure Pokémon to his couch instead.) The propensity for consumers to play on mobile games at home (with likely a WiFi hotspot in range) might also mean less sensitivity about the data plan consumption required of some games.

 

If you’re interested in learning more about our Digital Goods research in the eBooks and gaming industries, you can check out the full survey of results here.