How the Continued Growth in Mobile Payments is Driving Down Cash Usage as Customers Look to Contactless Payment Methods Following the Covid-19 Outbreak
Since March 2020 the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak has touched every part of our work, social, and home lives, with changes and adjustments made by each and every one of us as we tried to cope. As we now look ahead to the ‘new normal it is important to understand which of those new habits will be left behind as a mere relic of 2020, and which ones will shape our lives in 2021 and beyond.
It has widely been acknowledged that technological advancements as a result of the outbreak have accelerated, with some suggesting that we saw in just one year what had been expected of 10 years progress. Cash, and its role in our lives, has been no exception as to how we pay for things has changed dramatically since the coins and notes in your wallet were outcast as ‘disease vectors’, spreading germs every time they were passed from person to person. On the back of its demise due to trends in online, and increasing mobile, commerce cash was suddenly also pushed from physical society as retailers’ policy asked that we ‘pay by card where possible, or even placed outright bans on cash payments.
Now we have the benefit of 10 months of data, and customer sentiment has had the opportunity to recover from the shock of the time, we can begin to draw expectations of usage in 2021. A recent survey by YouGov found that 50% of Brits had made fewer cash payments since the outbreak, with only 8% having continued to use cash as before and just 2% having increased payments via cash. This stark change is further highlighted in another YouGov survey, this time in collaboration with ATM network Link, which suggests that 3 out of 4 Brits expect that the outbreak will continue to affect their use of cash into 2021. Both point to a future where the role of cash in our lives has changed dramatically compared to just one year ago.
The changing trends of how customers expect to pay have wider-reaching implications than just cash; in a society where the term ‘social distancing is now an everyday phrase, all aspects of physical contact are actively avoided, including entering a pin number. Banks were quick to facilitate the adoption of contactless technology to support this, with the transaction limit increasing to £45 in April 2020, and potentially up to £100 in the near future. As customers became more aware of and comfortable in using this functionality, usage soared: Data from September 2020 collected by UK Finance found that contactless transactions had grown to account for 61% of all card transactions across the UK, up from 44% just 12 months earlier. Couple this with the proliferation and added convenience of mobile payment types including Apple and Google pay, and this trend looks set to continue far into the future.
So how can you better prepare your business to accommodate these changes in behaviour as you look ahead to a successful 2021? It is clear that, whilst cash will still be present in our society, giving your customers the benefit of choice will be essential to maintaining and growing your customer base. Successful integration of payment technology is vital, but this is just the beginning. By adopting a digital solution over one of simple card payment you can integrate the powerful mobile devices already owned by the vast majority of your customers, potentially avoiding expensive implementation and hardware costs. Furthermore, in taking a digital approach you will begin to benefit from the wealth of data associated with an account-based solution, immediately building enhanced relationships with each and every person who uses your service.
Using our Core Engine technology, Corethree offers a range of options from off-the-shelf mobile ticketing apps using Coretickets, to bespoke mobile ticketing solutions. Our commitment at Corethree is to ensure a safer experience for both customers and staff, and we look forward to partnering with companies across all ticketed industries to help us go back to some sort of normality, with customer experience at the heart.
James King - Product Manager @ Corethree Ltd