Customers used cash, especially for smaller amounts.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt Consumers in Germany still prefer to pay with cash. 59.4 percent of all transactions at the till were settled in cash last year. This is the result of a market survey by the EHI, a retail research and consulting institute. In 2021, the cash portion was 60.9 percent.
Especially for smaller amounts, customers used cash, for larger amounts they tended to use the EC card. In terms of sales, card payments have therefore dominated for several years. The share of cash payments in sales was recently 37.5 percent, one percentage point less than in the previous year. The share of sales from card payments increased slightly to almost 60 percent in 2022. The rest is accounted for, among other things, by the purchase on account.
The EHI figures illustrate the ongoing development towards more card payments and less cash use – albeit at a slow pace of late. The corona pandemic had caused an acceleration at times. For example, many retailers asked customers to pay by card instead of cash, citing hygiene reasons.
The payment behavior of German consumers corresponds to the average in the euro zone. The share of cash payments in all transactions fell to 59 percent in the 19 euro zone countries last year, according to a recent consumer survey by the European Central Bank. Three years earlier the proportion had been 72 percent, six years earlier it was 79 percent.
There are six countries where consumers pay more cash at the checkout than Germans: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Austria, Slovenia and Malta.
However, the annual EHI study is based on data from dealers. The EHI recently surveyed a good 400 retailers with a total turnover of almost 294 billion euros.
Girocard loses share of sales
The majority of card payments are made with the Girocard, better known by its old name “EC card”. Almost 42 percent of retail sales were paid by Girocard in 2022. The transaction volume increased in view of the higher trading turnover. However, the Girocard’s share of sales declined slightly.
The Girocard is the German banking industry’s own payment system. The savings banks and Volksbanks as well as Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank primarily issue Girocards with their current accounts.
However, German subsidiaries of foreign banks and financial start-ups often rely on debit cards from the US payment groups Mastercard and Visa. These include ING, Targobank, Santander and N26. According to the EHI, the sales share of these cards grew from 0.8 percent to 2.9 percent.
According to Visa, 14 million Visa debit cards have now been issued in Germany. There are more than 100 million Girocards in circulation.
Little to see of Apple Pay
Payment by smartphone – for example via the payment services from Apple and Google, Apple Pay and Google Pay – is currently still the exception. Only 5.4 percent of card-based payments are processed by cell phone, as the EHI found. Since card payments account for less than 40 percent of all transactions, smartphone payments only account for a mere two percent of all payment transactions.
A survey commissioned by the auditing and consulting firm PwC showed at the end of 2022 that only eight percent of Germans pay for purchases via smartphone. That’s even a small drop from 2020.
More: Competition for the Girocard – 14 million Visa debit cards in Germany