Average Value of Card-Not-Present Debit Transactions Dips, Fed Says

Consumers continue to spend more on their debit cards, although the rate of growth has slowed.

Total debit card transaction volume and value both grew at an average rate of 4.6% per year from 2021 to 2023, the Federal Reserve Board said in its latest report on debit card transactions, which is released every other year.

The figures showed a deceleration compared to the 12-year period from 2009 to 2021, when debit card transaction volume grew 7.8% per year, while the value grew 9.5%.

Card-not-present (CNP) transactions made up a growing share of debit card transactions. In 2023, they accounted for 34.4% of total volume and almost one-half of total value, according to the report.

From 2021 to 2023, CNP transaction volume grew 8.2% per year, while card-present (CP) transactions grew 2.8%.

However, the rate of growth of CNP transactions slowed compared to the 26.5% annual growth seen from 2019 to 2021, a period that included the pandemic, and the 17.8% annual growth seen from 2009 to 2019, per the report.

While the average transaction value of CNP transactions remained higher than that of CP transactions, the gap between the two narrowed. The average transaction value of CNP transactions was 1.7 times that of CP transactions in 2023, down from 2.3 times in 2009.

The Fed said in the report that “as eCommerce has grown in popularity over the years and expanded to include smaller value purchases, the average transaction value of CNP transactions has decreased.”

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “eCommerce for All: How Consumers Across Generations Make Purchases Online” found that 42% of consumers used a debit card for their most recent in-store purchase and 30% used debit for the most recent online transaction.

“In online spaces, credit cards and digital wallets are highly popular,” the report said. “In physical stores, debit cards maintain their dominance. These differences highlight the interplay between perceived security, budgeting priorities and the unique demands of each shopping channel.”

Another PYMNTS Intelligence report, “Rethinking Rewards With a Loyalty Platform for the Debit Generation,” found that co-branded debit cards are becoming a viable loyalty strategy as consumer preferences shift away from revolving credit.