Results of a study conducted by Morar Research and posted on BusinessInsider find that cash is not just a preferred form of payment in the U.S. but consumers in the UK and Australia also consider cash a critical part of their payment options and habits.
Research carried out in the UK, US and Australia demonstrates that 86 percent of consumers are comfortable using cash and 48 percent still use cash on a daily basis.
Though electronic, mobile and contactless payments are growing in popularity the research suggests that cash will continue to play an important role for the foreseeable future and this will have implications for the retail sector.
The top reasons that survey respondents said they like cash is for its security and convenience:
Only 16 percent rated any other form of payment more secure than cash and 61 percent said they trusted cash over mobile forms of payment. At the same time 55 percent reported that they don’t like handing over their cards to a cashier to make a contactless payment.
That says a lot about the state of payment options today. Cash, which can be easily misplaced, often stolen and frequently counterfeited is valued by many in this survey as more secure than electronic transactions that can be authenticated through sophisticated technologies and secured by encryption and tokenization. It is considered more convenient despite the growing availability of “tap and go” contactless capabilities, particularly in the UK. Perhaps it’s attributes are the benchmark that future payment types should aspire.
Read this related article: Cash Is King… Only in Some Places
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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