New research published on Monday by LINK, the UK’s cash access and ATM network, has shown how the changing habits adopted by consumers and businesses through Covid-19 are still transforming how we use cash and pay for things even now.
LINK has been tracking consumer trends since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 to understand consumers’ changing habits across payments, but also across working, travelling and shopping and how it may affect spending patterns.
The key headlines from the research show:
- Over half of the population (56%) say they are using contactless payments more often in the five years since the start of the pandemic, and 31 per cent are making more mobile payments.
- 40 per cent say they are using their banking app more often and 37 per cent are doing more online shopping. Both changes are most likely due to the shift in behaviour that started in March 2020, with people shopping more online and visiting their bank branch less often due to the lockdowns.
- Over six-in-ten (62%) of people say they are using less cash than they were in comparison to the start of the pandemic. Of this, 45 per cent said they are using it a lot less and 17 per cent a little less. Over one-quarter (28%) say they are using cash about the same amount. 8 per cent said they are using cash more today than they were in March 2020.
- In terms of cash acceptance, 42 per cent of people have noticed more places have stopped accepting cash and a quarter (25%) have been in the situation where they’ve wanted to use cash to pay for something but have been told that it's not accepted.
- The change in payment behaviour has led to 40 per cent of people visiting the ATM less frequently and 14 per cent no longer paying people back using cash.
The research also includes details on how daily activities for people have changed and how it affects their payment choices. Five years since the outbreak of COVID-19, a quarter of people (25%) are visiting cinemas less often. This is followed by nightclubs (21%), pubs (20%), bank branches (19%), restaurants and bars (17%) and GP surgeries (16%).
However, many people, 41 per cent, said that they were not visiting any of the provided options less often. This suggests that while some have changed their habits, a large proportion of people are now back to pre-March 2020 behaviour.
“While more and more people are comfortable using contactless payments, it’s also interesting to see that some people are visiting former cash heavy locations like cinemas, nightclubs, pubs and restaurants less often and indeed many of these, have adopted touchscreen or QR code technology, allowing customers to order and pay digitally,” Graham Mott, Director of Strategy at LINK, commented.
