Today In Data: The Shift In Payment Methods

A recent “Lost in Transaction” Paysafe study polled 3,000 consumers in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada regarding their attitudes about the use of cash. According to its findings, the mobile wallet movement may be gathering momentum. More than half of consumers appear to be expecting to adopt digital payment methods in the next few years.

The Paysafe study focused on one main question: What is the tipping point that has been moving people from cash payments to alternative cash formats, thus setting the stage for a lot of change in retail?

“You really have to look at a few segments in the marketplace,” said Joseph Daly, COO of Paysafe payments processing, North America. “[For millennials], plastic does not even have to be a card anymore; it means access to … schemes such as Visa and Mastercard, perhaps through mobile devices … they will get on that and stay on that.”

According to Daly, the next big evolution will millennials may lie in biometrics. The phone still provides a level of friction, evidenced by the fact that mobile wallets have yet to take off, Daly explained. Recent data breaches have made consumers insecure about security, which may also lead to a boost in biometric adoption.

Here are the numbers:

3,000 | Number of U.S., U.K. and Canadian consumers surveyed regarding tracking payment methods for Paysafe’s “Lost in Transaction” study

54 | Percentage of survey respondents expecting to take up digital formats of cash in the next two years

50 | Percentage of consumers who visit an ATM monthly (more than half of those surveyed)

50 | Average amount of “notes and coins” in a respondent’s wallet in the U.S.

33 | Percentage of consumers who have adopted new payment methods or mobile wallets