Published
Jul 1, 2015
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Cash is still king in the UK, according to new BRC report

Published
Jul 1, 2015

The latest annual BRC Payments Survey shows that cash is still the preferred payment method for Britons. Cash continued to account for 52% of all transactions, despite a slight decline.



Once again, the average value of transactions has fallen, as shoppers are less reliant on big weekly shops and instead make more frequent visits to stores. The survey also found that customers in the UK are more and more embracing non-traditional methods to pay for their shopping, such as payment via app. As technology improves, these payment methods are likely to become more common.

However, the survey also found that the cost to UK retailers of handling card payments is still too high. Retailers are looking forward to changes that will take place at the end of the year through the introduction and enforcement of the new EU interchange arrangements.

BRC Director General, Helen Dickinson, said: "The cost to retailers of accepting debit and credit cards has been increasing for years, so it's great that European regulations will finally bring some proportionality to these fees and charges. The use of these cards is only going to continue to grow so it's important that the issues that have persisted in this area are finally being addressed at the EU level. There remains work to be done here in the UK to address these unfair charges, though.

"Cash remains the cheapest method of payment for retailers to process and, for the moment, it remains the most frequently used method of payment too. We're entering an exciting time for retail as technology continues to have a major impact on everything we do – this is just as true for methods of payment as it is for how products are sold."

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