According to recent statistics from the British Retail Consortium, credit and debit card payments have finally overtaken cash for the first time in what could be the beginning of the end for traditional notes and coin transactions.
Credit and debit card transactions account for over half of retail transactions (that's 58%!) compared to only 42% of transaction made by cash. The British Retail Consortium also reported that since the start of contactless technology, card payments have become the preferred method of purchasing with UK consumers within the retail sector.
Over 10.3 billion transactions were made on debit, credit and charge card in 2016 with a total retail spend of £351 billion.
2016 saw a 5% drop in consumers paying with cash, while debit card payments increased by 5%.
We found that the average card transaction value made on card in 2016 was £25.40.