The Reserve Bank of Australia has released a study on Payment Use as part of its assessment of future banking and monetary trends. The results show that cards are the most common form of payment for purchases between $50 and $500.
As expected customers are turning more to debit cards instead if cash to purchase goods at the till. Cash remains a dominant payment method for low-value purchases but its use has dropped in the 3 years since the last study, with debit cards now being more popular.
Convenience and speed are important factors and may explain why people continue to use cash for small value transactions but the emergence of “touch and go cards” is likely to make card payments even more important to customers.
Traders who don’t offer card facilities may need to consider how long our customers will agree to go down to the ATMs in Queen St. before making their purchase. Convenience is the name of the game here.
