Young people who regularly use payment cards to pay for 99-cent smartphone apps and MP3s are increasingly choosing to use cards for small, in-person transactions, such as coffee. This activity will only be further encouraged as smartphone payments become commonplace.
The popularity of plastic is predicted to continue to grow, with projections estimating 10.7% growth for credit and 8.5% of signature debit from June 2011 to June 2012. The use of checks during the same time period is predicted to decrease by 12.6%.
Businesses who continue to limit their payment methods to just cash or check are likely to see a decrease in customers over time as consumers start to view these payment methods as inconvenient.
Currently, the most common method of payment for in-person transactions under $20 is cash, $20-100 is debit and over $100 is credit.
Click here for related Mercator research.
Click here for the story.
