Over $3.6 trillion (£2.5 trillion) will be spent digitally this year, a 20 per cent increase year-on-year, as mobile and contactless payments see more and more people spending increasing amounts electronically.

The figures comes from a new study by Juniper Research, which suggests that the recent surge in contactless payments will continue as infrastructure to support the new technology is rolled out on a massive scale over the next few years, and key markets see increased card payment limits.

While cards will account for 90 per cent of contactless payments over the next five years, NFC-based mobile payment solutions by high profile firms including Apple, Samsung and Google will see increased usage and awareness of smartphones as a payment system.

Meanwhile, in online spending, social media platforms will increasingly dip their toe into the retail market, with Buy buttons integrated into services including Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram as consumers become more comfortable with purchasing digital and physical products through apps and social networks.

This will also extend into the world of peer-to-peer payments, with Asian chat platforms like WeChat leading the way in integrating payment technology. In February, WeChat saw more than 32bn red envelope monetary gifts sent during a six day period around Chinese New Year.

“Facebook has already rolled out a P2P service linked to its Messenger service in the US, and we would expect additional deployments in other core markets over the next year or so,” said Dr Windsor Holden, author of the research.