Similar to WeChat in China, the client base of the mobile wallet within South Korean messaging app Ka(kao)Talk is said to grow by millions between 2020 and 2025. This payment option, Kakao Pay, shares characteristics with China's WeChat and Japan's LINE in that it is part of an all-in-one app ecosystem that originally started out as an instant messaging service. Kakao combines multiple different apps into a single place, combining messaging with conference calls, but also with music, online banking, payments, hotel reservations or social media: Kakao Story was almost as popular as Instagram in South Korea in 2020, for example. In a similar fashion, Naver Pay is built around South Korea's most popular search engine. This integration into a much bigger ecosystem could potentially explain the high popularity of both Kakao Pay and Naver Pay against other mobile payments such as Samsung Pay that were available in South Korea in December 2020.
Number of users of selected mobile wallets in South Korea in 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025
(in millions)
The source does not provide any information regarding consumers using more than one app at the same time. It may, therefore, be that the total users of all apps combined is higher than the country's population
Supplementary notes
The source explicitly states that "we look (...) only for open wallets, ie those that have the ability to make payments on multiple sites, rather than in reference to an ability to transfer funds between different wallets. Thus we do not focus on transactions conducted via cards stored by a retailer purely for use on that retailer’s website or mobile app."
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Statista estimates. (October 21, 2021). Number of users of selected mobile wallets in South Korea in 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025 (in millions) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved November 18, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1271726/mobile-wallet-user-forecast-in-south-korea/
Statista estimates. "Number of users of selected mobile wallets in South Korea in 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025 (in millions)." Chart. October 21, 2021. Statista. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1271726/mobile-wallet-user-forecast-in-south-korea/
Statista estimates. (2021). Number of users of selected mobile wallets in South Korea in 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025 (in millions). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: November 18, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1271726/mobile-wallet-user-forecast-in-south-korea/
Statista estimates. "Number of Users of Selected Mobile Wallets in South Korea in 2020, with Forecasts from 2021 to 2025 (in Millions)." Statista, Statista Inc., 21 Oct 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1271726/mobile-wallet-user-forecast-in-south-korea/
Statista estimates, Number of users of selected mobile wallets in South Korea in 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025 (in millions) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1271726/mobile-wallet-user-forecast-in-south-korea/ (last visited November 18, 2024)
Number of users of selected mobile wallets in South Korea in 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025 (in millions) [Graph], Statista estimates, October 21, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1271726/mobile-wallet-user-forecast-in-south-korea/
