Why a successful digital wallet works like a shopping mall

Yet in the race to build the next great wallet, many players chase users instead of profitability. Most wallets don’t fail for lack of design or marketing — they fail because their payment infrastructure is too rigid to grow into an ecosystem. A wallet that can’t add new rails, partners, or products fast enough will soon be left behind.

Like a thriving shopping mall, a successful wallet should be a place where customers come not just to browse, but to spend, stay, and return.

From foot traffic to full ecosystem

A mall’s architecture determines how many visitors it attracts. But the value lies inside: the stores and partnerships that generate engagement and profit.

Digital wallets work the same way. They become part of daily life when they integrate payments, banking, and lifestyle services, turning into super apps where users pay, save, borrow, invest, and earn rewards. Consider:

• M-Pesa, Kenya’s leading mobile money platform, partnered with banks for microlending and overdrafts.

• ZaloPay, a Vietnamese wallet with 14 million users, launched BNPL services with Lotte Finance.

• Revolut, a global fintech with 52,5 million customers, blends free accounts with premium subscriptions to drive recurring revenue.

• GrabPay, a super app in Southeast Asia, is an everyday tool for transport, food delivery, offline retail, and credit.

Like stores in a mall, these partnerships turn traffic into sustainable profit, building ecosystems that grow stronger with every new feature.

Infrastructure determines success

Behind every high-performing wallet stands a robust digital payment platform: the unseen structure that enables speed, scale, and innovation.

A modern wallet platform can:

• Onboard clients and merchants in seconds with AI-powered KYC and authentication. STC Pay, one of Saudi Arabia’s leading e-wallets, offers a very fast onboarding process, with individual account registration often taking just minutes by using their app, a national ID or Iqama, and a mobile number for verification.

• Launch new products through configuration, not coding. PayPal added QR payments across 28 markets simultaneously — an impressive configuration-led rollout.

• Support multiple payment rails (cards, A2A, QR, or instant) and integrate via open APIs.

• Deliver real-time data and scale to millions of users. SmartPay, a Vietnam-based digital-wallet and merchant-acceptance platform, reached 1,2 million wallets and 700,000 merchants in just three years on Way4.

Without this foundation, even the most downloaded wallet becomes an empty shell. With it, a wallet becomes a living ecosystem that is dynamic, connected, and profitable.

Expanding the mall: new business models for growth

Once the structure is sound, the wallet can grow its customer experiences, just like a mall adding new wings or tenants.

Card issuing acts as the flagship store, anchoring loyalty and driving repeat visits. Many wallets, such as Cash App (U.S. peer-to-peer wallet with 57 million users) issue prepaid, debit, and corporate cards linked directly to the app.

As CBDCs and cryptocurrencies gain adoption, digital wallets need to handle these forms of value. The first CBDC wallet and card in Eurasia were issued in 2023 on the Way4 platform. Now this project has CBDC in circulation equal to €0.5 billion.

Merchant acquiring expands the retail network. Through QR, POS, or e-commerce gateways, wallets like MoMo (Vietnam’s major e-wallet with 31 million) evolved from simple P2P tools into multi-service ecosystems that connect consumers and merchants in real time.

Wallets also transform cross-border payments. They can:

• Enable instant wallet-to-wallet transfers with real-time FX, like Revolut.

• Reach new corridors via APIs and partnerships: PayPal World connects domestic wallets globally.

• Plug into instant payment systems such as SEPA Instant, UPI, and PIX for low-cost international transfers.

Turning data into revenue

Digital wallets generate massive volumes of real-time data. With AI agents, the ability to analyze and monetize this information grows exponentially, enhancing customer experience and unlocking new revenue from value-added services.

Early GenAI deployments in payments and banking are already delivering measurable results. In select cases, institutions have achieved up to 15% revenue growth from personalized banking and self-optimizing cards, and 15–20% higher revenues with 10–30% lower acquisition costs through predictive financial coaching and AI-driven engagement.

For AI to work efficiently, it needs constant access to complete, structured, real-time data. That’s only possible on an API-rich, data-driven, online platform — one that connects systems, feeds intelligence instantly, and transforms insights into revenue.

Way4: built for ecosystems, designed for data

The Way4 digital payment platform provides exactly that foundation. Its modular, API-driven architecture helps banks, fintechs, and industrial groups launch fast, innovate easily, and scale globally.

With Way4, clients:

• Launch various payment business models across countries and continents

• Begin with wallets issuing and acceptance, then enlarge the payment ecosystem to merchant acquiring and card issuing, or vice versa

• Launch configurable products from BNPL and SNBL (Save Now, Buy Later) to e-money wallets

• Connect across payment rails (card, wallet, A2A, QR, or digital and crypto currency) in real time

• Integrate with international payment systems and national switches

• Leverage AI-ready data for intelligent, personalized experiences

Ready to grow your wallet ecosystem?
Like a mall, wallets succeed when their foundation enables growth. With the right platform, every new feature or partnership is a wing for expansion, attracting more customers, merchants, and revenue streams.

Turn your wallet vision into a thriving ecosystem. With our experience and global success stories, we’re ready to be your trusted partner for the next leap in digital payments.