In 2018, after years of card payments slowly weighing in on the dominance of cash transactions, cashless has now overtaken as the most popular method of payment, research from Merchant Machine has revealed.
Last year saw a staggering 15 per cent drop in the volume of transactions involving cash and coins, and strengthened by the growing popularity of contactless cards, cashless payments now reign supreme.
Merchant Machine found that the UK is paving the way as far as contactless payments are concerned, with an astounding cashless revenue of €106.7trn in 2017. Following suit is Germany, with a cashless revenue of €55.8trn last year alone and in third place was France with a revenue of €27.2trn last year.
When assessing what contactless payments were being used for, the Merchant Machine identified that last year the use of contactless payments to purchase clothing skyrocketed by a tremendous 321 per cent compared to a year earlier, topping all over key business types. Parking payments ranked second, with the number of transactions increasing by 132 per cent in 2018, and in third place was public transport, where 91 per cent of all payments are contactless.
Commenting, Merchant Machine founder Ian Wright: “The popularity and preference towards cashless payments appears evergrowing. While so many are aware of the decline of cash usage and increase in card transactions, but this study helps to break down where these changes are most felt.”
Latest News
NEW BUILD IN FOCUS - NEW EPISODE OF THE MORTGAGE INSIDER PODCAST, OUT NOW
Figures from the National House-Building Council saw Q1 2025 register a 36% increase in new homes built across the UK compared with the same period last year, representing a striking development for the first-time buyer market. But with the higher cost of building, ongoing planning challenges and new and changing regulations, how sustainable is this growth? And what does it mean for brokers?
The role of the bridging market and technology usage in the industry
Content editor, Dan McGrath, sat down with chief operating officer at Black & White Bridging, Damien Druce, and head of development finance at Empire Global Finance, Pete Williams, to explore the role of the bridging sector, the role of AI across the industry and how the property market has fared in the Labour Government’s first year in office.
Does the North-South divide still exist in the UK housing market?
What do the most expensive parts of the country reveal about shifting demand? And why is the Manchester housing market now outperforming many southern counterparts?
In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance, to explore how regional trends are redefining the UK housing, mortgage and buy-to-let markets.
In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance, to explore how regional trends are redefining the UK housing, mortgage and buy-to-let markets.
The new episode of The Mortgage Insider podcast, out now
Regional housing markets now matter more than ever. While London and the Southeast still tend to dominate the headlines from a house price and affordability perspective, much of the growth in rental yields and buyer demand is coming from other parts of the UK.
In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance.
In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance.
© 2019 Perspective Publishing Privacy & Cookies
Recent Stories