The roll-out of contactless cards, the growth of e-commerce and rising usage of self-service tills are all contributing to a fall in cash usage in the UK, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) Payments Survey 2013. Its data shows that although cash remains the favoured method of payment for low-value transactions at 53% of such transactions, its usage fell by 3% over the past year and 10% overall over the last five years.
Cash, debit, credit and charge cards as a % of UK retail sales turnover in 2013
With contactless cards now widespread in the UK, debit cards comprised 50% of retail sales value in 2013, a rise of 11% over the last five years. Correspondingly, average debit card transaction values have declined, while the usage of cash has fallen by 14%.
The BRC’s survey findings echo data from other sources showing that UK consumers are less reliant on cash for low-value purchases. However, the BRC, which has long accused the payment industry of charging consumers exorbitant card fees, claims that the average cost to a retailer to process a credit or charge card payment is now £0.409, a rise of 18.3% in the last five years. According to the BRC, credit and charge cards comprise just 9% of transactions but 48.7% of costs, whereas the cost of processing a cash payment is just £0.013 and comprises 9% of costs. Meanwhile, debit card costs have risen by 4% over the last five years and cost £0.088 per transaction. Debit cards account for 32% of transactions but 37% of costs.
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