QR code payments are expected to launch in 2025

QR code payments are expected to gain traction in the US in 2025 as more use cases gain traction and merchants look to avoid expensive interchange fees.

QR code payments utilize account-to-account payment, also known as Payment by bankPayment method to transfer money between two bank accounts without the need for an intermediary such as credit card networks or payment processors. According to a study by ABI Research, they are already widely used in many small and medium-sized businesses and pop-up retailers.

According to ABI Research, that will change as technology moves from “niche” to “partially mainstream.”

“The flexibility to offer digital payment acceptance via a unique QR code, rather than leasing a point of sale (POS) device, is attractive not only to SMEs, but also to larger hospitality merchants, including restaurants, who continue to operate “are experiencing significant financial pressure,” ABI said.

According to ABI, investments from providers such as PayPal, Stripe and SumUp are “laying the foundation” for greater adoption.

Major retailers such as Best Buy, CVS, Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks, Goal And WalmartAila Technologies, which provides merchants with a self-service platform for image-based scanning and iPad-based kiosks, among others, already accepts QR code payments and plans to further expand adoption, according to Aila Technologies.

Daniela Hawkins, associate partner and head of payments at Capco, also expects QR code payments to increase next year due to the pressure merchants face Processing fees.

“Merchants have a case that it costs a lot of money to accept (Visa and Mastercard),” Hawkins said. “They will want to start encouraging more consumers to pay account-to-account or by bank.”

At their core, QR code payments enable simple and fast transactions, said Elias Ghanem, global head of Capgemini Research Institute for Financial Services.

QR codes also enable financial inclusion, Ghanem said.

“It’s cheap and easy. You don’t have to remember any codes, you don’t have to sign. All you need is your smartphone and the QR code,” said Ghanem. “It’s cheaper for a bank than issuing cards, and the money comes from the bank account, so there are no defaults.”

Financial inclusion and government mandates have driven the adoption of QR code payments in countries such as Brazil, China and India. QR code payments are one of – if not the most – widespread payment method in China, said Reed Luhtanen, executive director of the Faster Payments Council.

“Many payments through WeChat Pay and Alipay are all based on QR codes,” he said. “It’s widespread used in Brazil … and there is a very similar situation in India. … They have a common QR code standard there.”

Broadly speaking, the US recorded the highest number of QR code scans globally in 2023, followed by India, according to QR Tiger, a QR code generation service. This includes QR scans that are not payment-specific, such as a code to view a URL, redirect to an application, or download a file.

According to a February 2022 report from eMarketer, the number of smartphone users in the US who scan QR codes is expected to reach 99.5 million by 2025.

The increasing adoption of QR codes in general will likely drive the adoption of QR code payments, Capgemini’s Ghanem said.

“The more you and I introduce QR codes into our lives, the more we will pay with QR codes tomorrow,” he said.

But account-to-account payment methods require more than just increased merchant adoption to drive consumer usage because of the “reward factor,” Capco’s Hawkins said. “If you are a savvy consumer and a Reward junkiethen you are not interested in (QR code payments).”