Consumers See No End to Cash Payments

Independent research carried out for GLORY, a global leader in cash technology solutions, finds consumers continue to favour cash as a means of payment and 74 percent of those questioned believe there will always be a role for cash.

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.

Why do people still want to use cash? Security, convenience and choice were important factors.

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.

On convenience, nearly two thirds say they will use whatever payment method is easiest at the time.

While contactless payments have become more important as transaction limits have been increased, in the UK 90 percent of consumers will typically use notes and coin for transactions up to £50.

40 percent would abandon a transaction if their preferred form of payment was not available and 82 percent believed there should always be the option to pay in cash.

Other key findings of the research include

• Over half (58%) of UK consumers use cash now just as much or more than they did a year ago
• Over half (56%) believe the introduction of new polymer notes and the new one pound coin have made cash more secure
• 58 percent use cash for pub / bar payments and 31 percent use cash when purchasing groceries

Sion Roberts, Executive Vice President, Global Retail, at GLORY Global Solutions, said: "Cash remains a trusted payment method. It clearly has a strong place in shoppers’ hearts – and wallets – and will have for many years to come. This has important implications, as it is still being handled inefficiently and insecurely within many retail environments and this is something that needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.”

"The research is clear, choice for an electronic or cash payment option is important to most consumers, now and for long into the future. The implications for retailers looking forward are obvious. They need to invest more time and resource into making cash management work profitably for their organisation – enhancing the customer experience when it comes to cash transactions and using process improvements and modern technology to eliminate cash handling inefficiencies and errors,” he concluded.

For more information on how retailers can better optimise their retail cash chain, download the full report here

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Notes to editors

1500 consumers from UK, US and Australia, polled for GLORY by Morar research between January – February 2017

About GLORY

As a global leader in cash technology solutions, we provide the financial, retail, cash center and gaming industries with confidence that their cash is protected and always working to help build a stronger business.

Our cash automation technologies and process engineering services help businesses in more than 100 countries optimize the handling, movement and management of cash. While we span the globe, we personally engage with each customer to address their unique challenges and goals — enhancing staff efficiency, reducing operating costs and enabling a more rewarding customer experience.

Employing over 9,000 professionals worldwide with dedicated R&D and manufacturing facilities across the world, GLORY is built on a rich customer-focused, technology-driven heritage spanning almost a hundred years.

For further information please visit www.glory-global.com or follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/glory_global.

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