GB News may have attracted the unwelcome attention of the regulator with its Don’t Kill Cash Campaign, but a new study from Stockport digital payments specialist takepayments has revealed that Apple Pay and contactless payments have overtaken cash payments by a landslide as our favourite ways to pay in-store.
The survey of over 1,000 UK consumers revealed that:
- Contactless is by far the most popular payment method in the UK. Mobile payments like Apple Pay came in 2nd and cash 3rd
- Nearly 1 in 3 people admit to never carrying cash
- Interestingly, men are 22 per cent less likely to choose contactless payments than women – could men be less likely to trust contactless technology?
- People who stick to cash do so for security and budgeting purposes, while contactless users prefer the convenience
- The age group most likely to prefer cash is those aged 55 and over. Nearly a quarter (22%) of Over 55s said that cash was their preferred payment method, compared with just 1 in 10 (10%) 18-24s. One in 15 (7%) admitted that they didn’t even remember their card pin
The UK adopted contactless technology in 2007 – significantly earlier than in the US, which only launched ‘tap to pay’ in 2015. The increase of the UK contactless limit to £100, mid-pandemic in October 2021, may have played a further role in its growing popularity over the past few years, along with increasingly secure mobile devices featuring fingerprint and facial recognition technology.
Jodie Wilkinson, head of strategic partnerships at takepayments, said: “The new data shows fairly clearly that the majority of customers want to pay with contactless methods — whether that’s physical or digital cards — wherever they shop. Failing to accommodate these needs could put small businesses at a disadvantage, as cash-free shoppers may take their money elsewhere.”
