NUREMBURG, Germany—A new study indicates that in Canada credit cards and digital wallets are the preferred payment method over cash.
GfK, a market and consumer information firm, found that in 2015 only 25% of Canadian transactions were in cash, a decline of two percentage points from 2014. Meanwhile, credit cards accounted for the majority of transactions at 42%, unchanged from the previous year.
“We’re clearly seeing that the use of cash is getting less and less in this country. Is it ever going to disappear? I don’t think so, because of the nature of certain economies that are out there. But clearly, what we are seeing now is every year fewer and fewer payments are being made with cash,” Stephen Popeil, vice-president of GfK Canada told The Globe and Mail.
Debit cards were at 28%, followed by mobile device payments at 3%. Each category saw marginal growth of a percentage point each compared to 2014.
In the case of mobile payments, GfK—in its online survey of 1,000 Canadians—found that they tend to skew to younger and higher-income Canadians, as well as among urban dwellers and those with a higher education. But the high-tech payment method is also catching on with Boomers and those of the silent generation born between 1925 and 1945, the company said.
As is the case with U.S. consumers, security concerns with mobile payments is holding back more widespread usage. The survey found 53% of Canadians agreed they were worried about their personal information when using a mobile-payment app, and only 22% agreed they were confident that their mobile device payments were 100% secure.