U.S. credit cards generated $6.5 trillion in purchase volume in 2025, representing 57% of total card spending. Payments are continuously evolving to meet growing demand for seamless, secure transactions. Worldpay’s 2026 Global Payments Report captures this momentum, breaking down regional trends shaping the next phase of payments.
The report’s e-commerce data confirms that credit cards account for a significant share of online transactions across North America:
• United States: Credit cards accounted for 32% of online transactions in 2025
• Canada: Credit cards accounted for 46% of online transactions in 2025
Consumers continue to favor credit cards for the rewards, fraud protection, and purchase flexibility they offer.
Digital Wallets Are Growing, but Acceptance Costs Remain Unchanged
The report also notes that digital wallets hold a substantial share of e-commerce, at 40% in the U.S. and 32% in Canada. But the rise of digital wallets doesn’t mean merchants are escaping credit card costs. Most digital wallet transactions are funded by a credit card sitting behind the scenes. When a consumer selects Apple Pay, Google Pay, or PayPal at checkout, the underlying payment is often still a Visa or Mastercard credit transaction, which means merchants pay the same processing fees they would on a standard credit card payment.
What This Means for Merchants
The 2026 Global Payments Report reinforces three things merchants should be planning around:
• Credit card acceptance is non-negotiable. With nearly half of Canadian online transactions and a third of U.S. online transactions paid by credit card, merchants that don’t accept them risk turning away significant revenue.
• Cost management deserves equal weight to acceptance. As card volumes climb, processing costs scale linearly with them, unless merchants actively recover those costs.
• A seamless customer experience is essential. Behind every smooth checkout is a payment stack that minimizes operational complexity and risk.
Merchants that combine strong card acceptance, strategic cost management, and a frictionless customer experience are the ones best positioned to grow. Putting these priorities into practice at scale takes more than internal effort. It often comes down to working with the right partners, ones that can simplify cost recovery without disruption.
Our View
Worldpay’s data confirms what we see across our merchant base every day: credit cards aren’t going anywhere. The question isn’t whether to accept them. It’s whether you’re accepting them on the best possible terms.
As a Worldpay partner, InterPayments helps merchants take control of credit card costs through compliant, automated surcharging. We calculate every surcharge in real time, accounting for evolving card brand rules and state regulations. Our solution works within merchants’ existing payment workflows, eliminating the need to overhaul or replace current systems.
Credit cards remain central to North American commerce, and the merchants who manage acceptance and cost together unlock savings they can redirect toward growth.
Contact us today to see how InterPayments can help you recover credit card costs.