The UK is on its way to being a cashless society, with a recent report revealing less than half of payments were made by cash.
This is according to Payments UK who carried out a study which says contactless payments made in 2015, tripled compared to payments in 2014. Payments UK represents major banks, building societies and payment providers.
Cash payments in the UK made up 45.1% of payments in 2015 compared with 64% in 2005. Debit and contactless cards rounded off the total figure with 54.9%. Payments UK expects cash payments to fall to 25% by 2021.
A separate study by UK Cards Association estimates one in seven transactions in the UK are done using contactless methods. Which includes contactless cards and Apple Pay. Contactless payments have reached a record total of £1.5 billion in March.
The Payments UK report also found the average adult in the UK made 648 payments a year, or around 54 a month. Barclays said Britain’s over-60s are the biggest adopters to contactless payments, with number of users increasing 116%, more than any other age groups.
Android Pay is here to play
We’re seeing a massive increase into contactless technology with Apple Pay releasing last year and last week we saw the launch of Android Pay. We’ve been trialling Android Pay and it has become muscle memory to pull out our smartphone for a seamless transaction. Now with two of the biggest major smartphone operating systems running contactless payments, we will definitely be seeing use of contactless payments rise in 2016.
A cashless society doesn’t seem so farfetched but children need pocket money, homeless people don’t take card and penny slot machines are well fortified.
Want to get started with Android Pay? Here’s our guide to set it up.
For more news, visit what Mobile’s dedicated new page.
Via The Guardian.