In 2018, after years of card payments slowly weighing in on the dominance of cash transactions, cashless has now overtaken as the most popular method of payment, research from Merchant Machine has revealed.

Last year saw a staggering 15 per cent drop in the volume of transactions involving cash and coins, and strengthened by the growing popularity of contactless cards, cashless payments now reign supreme.

Merchant Machine found that the UK is paving the way as far as contactless payments are concerned, with an astounding cashless revenue of €106.7trn in 2017. Following suit is Germany, with a cashless revenue of €55.8trn last year alone and in third place was France with a revenue of €27.2trn last year.

When assessing what contactless payments were being used for, the Merchant Machine identified that last year the use of contactless payments to purchase clothing skyrocketed by a tremendous 321 per cent compared to a year earlier, topping all over key business types. Parking payments ranked second, with the number of transactions increasing by 132 per cent in 2018, and in third place was public transport, where 91 per cent of all payments are contactless.

Commenting, Merchant Machine founder Ian Wright: “The popularity and preference towards cashless payments appears evergrowing. While so many are aware of the decline of cash usage and increase in card transactions, but this study helps to break down where these changes are most felt.”

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