Australia is becoming an increasingly cashless society with 81% of Australians preferring to pay by card and one in three claiming they are card-only shoppers, according to a new national study by payments company Square.
Australian consumers say that paying by card is much faster and more convenient than paying with cash, with the average person now carrying less than $60 in their wallet.
Quick and easy tap technology has also led to more negative consumer sentiment towards cash-only businesses, with 41% of the population saying they avoid cash-only businesses altogether.
Square’s Australian country manager Ben Pfisterer says not accepting cashless forms of payment is negatively impacting the bottom line for cash-only businesses.
“Australia has one of the most advanced payments markets in the world, particularly when it comes to contactless, so being a cash-only business now just doesn’t cut it,” Pfisterer said.
“Running a business is challenging and requires a lot of effort to attract customers, so it makes no sense to then lose a sale because you don’t allow them to pay the way they want.”
“We need to debunk the myth that accepting card payments is more complicated and expensive than cash, because there is actually a very real financial cost to every business that handles and manages cash—and it’s even greater for those that are cash-only,” he said.
Square’s research also reveals that managing and banking cash is costing Australian small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) more than 200 hours per year which equates to a minimum cost of $8.7 billion worth of annual staff wages.
Sixty per cent of Aussie SMBs agree that the key motivator for transitioning to cashless is to reduce time waste for staff, in addition to customer preference and the security risks with storing cash on-site.
Over half of business owners surveyed acknowledged their businesses would likely become cashless in the future, with 35% believing the transition will happen in the next five years.
