Canadian consumers use prepaid cards for a variety of purposes, but the amount loaded varies significantly depending on the type of card. From transit and general purpose reloadable cards to retailer-specific and digital gift cards, prepaid products serve distinct roles in consumers’ everyday payment activity.
Mercator Advisory Group’s 2021 North American PaymentsInsights research examines Canadian prepaid card usage alongside broader trends in debit and credit cards. The findings show that transit prepaid cards carry the highest average load amount, followed by general purpose reloadable cards, while other prepaid categories tend to receive smaller amounts.
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Data for today’s episode is provided by Mercator Advisory Group’s Report: 2021 North American PaymentsInsights: The State of the Canadian Consumer Market-Prepaid/Gift, Credit, and Debit Cards
Average Dollar Amount Loaded onto Prepaid Cards by Canadian Consumers:
- Transit prepaid cards had an average dollar amount loaded onto them of $224 in the past year.
- General purpose reloadable prepaid cards had an average dollar amount loaded onto them of $120 in the past year.
- Retailer-specific prepaid cards had an average dollar amount loaded onto them of $96 in the past year.
- Gift cards for online services such as music or online gambling had an average dollar amount loaded onto them of $65 in the past year.
- Prepaid mobile phone cards had an average dollar amount loaded onto them of $62 in the past year.
About Report
Mercator Advisory Group’s most recent report, 2021 North American PaymentsInsights: The State of the Canadian Consumer Market-Prepaid/Gift, Credit, and Debit Cards, summarizes the market for prepaid, debit, and credit cards in Canada. The report looks at consumers’ preferred way to use these payment products, how frequently they use them, and what they think about these payment options.
The report is based on the North American PaymentsInsights survey administered between August 27 and September 14, 2021. Participants included 1000 Canadian consumers ages 18 years or older. In addition to providing data on the nature of prepaid/gift, debit, and credit cards, the report digs deeper into different types within these three payment categories while looking at the rate at which certain types of these cards are widely used among the respondents in Canada.
“Through the survey data, we have seen some interesting influences of COVID on the increased use of debit cards in 2021.” stated Pragya Khanal, an analyst working on the report.
