82% of Merchants to Expand Digital Wallet Use in 2025

For all the talk about artificial intelligence and instant payments, the biggest change reshaping how businesses pay each other may be happening in accounts payable.

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Virtual Mobility: How Mobile Virtual Cards Elevate B2B Payments” finds that virtual cards and mobile wallets are emerging as valued tools helping firms wrestle back control over cash flow and late payments.

The report, published in March with support from WEX, details how outdated methods like paper checks still dominate B2B, draining time and money from companies.

Paper-based payments introduce errors, delays and staffing burdens that ripple across operations. The study reveals that digital substitutes, particularly virtual cards tied to mobile wallets, combine consumer-style convenience with corporate-grade controls, offering speed and security.

Key findings from the report include:

• Seventy-three percent of firms have yet to automate supplier payments. That reliance on manual systems leads directly to excess data entry, errors and visibility gaps. Nearly half of surveyed businesses cited process delays caused by those outdated methods.
• Fourteen percent of middle-market companies plan to adopt virtual cards within the next year. The latest figure represents a 322% jump over current adoption levels, a surge fueled by finance leaders seeking tighter fraud protection and rebate revenue. Interest is especially strong in the technology, media and fleet management sectors.
• Eighty-two percent of merchants say they will expand use of digital wallets in 2025. Consumer expectations for frictionless payments are pushing businesses to mirror those habits in B2B transactions, where mobile wallets can reduce administrative costs and provide real-time spending insights.

The implications stretch beyond cutting back on paper checks. The study documents how small businesses endure average payment delays of 9.1 days, resulting in a total payment wait time of 28.7 days. That creates a drag on liquidity that can tip the balance between survival and insolvency.

Virtual cards, with single-use numbers that expire after each transaction, reduce fraud exposure while automating reconciliation. Embedded in mobile wallets, they also extend real-time visibility into cash positions, a feature increasingly critical as interest rates and operating costs fluctuate.

Vendors stand to benefit. Rebates tied to virtual card usage add incremental revenue streams, while instant settlement through mobile wallets accelerates receivables.

The challenge lies with adoption. Virtual cards require supplier acceptance, and mobile wallets must integrate seamlessly with corporate enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Partnerships, like WEX and Conferma’s integration into SAP’s Concur Invoice platform, are emerging as the bridge, allowing payments to be authorized, issued and reconciled in a single digital loop.

Payments innovation lies in eliminating friction in day-to-day processes that erode productivity.

“In today’s ‘on-demand’ world, B2B companies must provide the fast, customized experiences that we’ve come to expect as consumers,” WEX President Eric Frankovic says in the report.

For a growing number of firms, the pairing of virtual cards and mobile wallets may be the most direct route there.

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