An Ipsos MORI research study “Uses of CashMoney in physical form such as banknotes and coins. More and Electronic Payments” found that 46% of small businesses in the UK don’t consider the cashless option feasible for their activities. And even though 21% of them do use chip and pin machines to take payments, the majority (70%) haven’t moved to a full-fledged cashless system.
The businesses that do use electronic payments mostly use them in form of electronic transfers (i.e. online shops). Furthermore, “the economic benefits of providing these paymentA transfer of funds which discharges an obligation on the part of a payer vis-à-vis a payee. More options to not outweigh the perceived costs”. These businesses “do not foresee sufficient demand from their customers to make offering theses electronic methods financially worthwhile”. They would only be keen on widening their payment offer if the accrued revenue would suffice to offset the fees charged by card providers.
The study also found that consumers that were more inclined to use cash were people with less disposable income who consider cash the best payment methodSee Payment instrument. More to manage their spending. And finally, consumers that already make use of debit or credit cards said that they would explore using other payment instruments such as smartphone apps if only they had more information about consumer protection (i.e. identity theft and fraud) as well as the comparative advantage of those payments over existing ones.
To read the study, please click here or download below.