News

UK retailers ready to depose King Cash, study says

April 29, 2014

A new study, "The Payments Landscape Benchmark," has determined that merchants in the U.K. are tired of spending 17.8 billion pounds ($30 billion) a year to process cash payments.

According to a report by The Telegraph, merchants lose an average of 3,638.57 pounds ($6,128) annually, due to security costs, counterfeit notes and theft. What’s more, 52 percent of retailers surveyed said that of all the payment forms accepted, cash was the one most prone to accounting inaccuracies.

Among customers surveyed, 36 percent said they prefer to shop with a retailer who offers a wide range of payment options, and 31 percent said they’d bail on a purchase if the merchant did not offer their preferred payment method.

One-third of businesses — and nearly as many consumers — believe Britain will go cashless in time. “We’re living through a payments revolution,” Simon Black, the chief executive of Sage Pay, said. “Just as many find cheques alien now, for the next generation, the notion of cash will seem strange.”

"The Payments Landscape Benchmark," is based on canvassed opinions from 1,124 business leaders. It  was compiled by payments provider Sage Pay.

The Telegraph report did not include per-annum figures on the cost to merchants for payment methods other than cash.