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The growth of the cashless society


The days when cash was king are long past. BMF service partner Paymentsense looks at the benefits of going cashless for your business.


TEN YEARS AGO, cash accounted for over half (58%) of all payments in the UK. Now cash has dropped to less than a quarter of all transactions. During March 2020, when the UK went into national lockdown to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, ATM withdrawals were down by 60%.


Convenient, quick and most importantly, physically touch free, contactless payment methods provided a perfect solution for minimising touch- points and transmitting germs during the height of the virus. It made sense then that business owners adopted and encouraged contactless during this time. While contactless payments were already increasing steadily across the UK, the pandemic accelerated our contactless usage tenfold, moving many people closer to a completely cash-free lifestyle.


At Paymentsense, we


wanted to understand not just contactless card payments, but contactless payments made with digital wallets. To find this out, we analysed transaction data for contactless payments over £45. We found that two years ago fewer than 1 in 100 transactions above £45 were contactless. In 2021 this figure has drastically changed.


Now, 1 in 10 of these


transactions are contactless using Apple, Google, or Samsung digital wallets. This huge increase equates to 11% of all transactions above £45 being contactless transactions. The rapid growth of Apple and Android pay options has made contactless the main method of payment for many businesses – but is this the case at your trade


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counter? If not, it is time to take a closer look at the benefits Card and contactless payments payments are usually quicker than cash ones, as your customer pays the exact amount This means no more checking the cash given to you or counting the change you give back


This may not seem like a huge difference but think about what five minutes saved per customer could add up to during a day. This could potentially mean more time serving other customers, or replenishing stock.


Minimise the risks It also means less time cashing up at the end of the day. With Paymentsense machines you simply print out your end of day transactions summary. You can also track refunds and sales figures across multiple locations over the course of the day using your Paymentsense account, either on desktop or mobile. With less cash on your shop premises, you could decrease the


risk of theft. Although break-ins can result in the loss of valuable goods, with little or no cash on the premises the risk is reduced. And, if you do opt for a card only model, your signage may be a deterrent for potential thieves.


Look to the future Thanks to technological advances, the structure of payments has gone through a significant transformation. To understand how this market is adapting, Paymentsense looked at the core forecasting trends to discover where what’s next for the cashless society. Cashless retail stores are already appearing in the US and the UK. In West London, Amazon Fresh opened their first digital cashless retail store. Customers simply scan a QR code when entering the store and then leave with their goods without any physical payment transaction. Their accounts are automatically be billed as they leave the store.


Offer options


Although card transactions are favoured by many, giving customers the choice to pay their way is still favoured by businesses catering for a diverse range of customers. Not everyone is accustomed to new digital technologies or has the same access to contactless devices as others.


Paymentsense helps businesses accept card and contactless payments with ease, without worrying about high transaction fees, payment settlements or integration.


They even connect


seamlessly with your EPoS, so you’ll never make a keying-in mistake again! For more information on how this can benefit your business visit www. paymentsense.com/uk/ partners/bmf/


www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net September 2021


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