Card payments soared to 90% of total retail spending in 2021, with 82% of transactions on either on debit or credit card, up from 75% of transactions in 2020, according to the latest annual Payments Survey from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
The research reveals that the Covid-19 pandemic “changed the way we pay” with cash accounting for just 15% of all transactions in 2021, down from 30% in 2020.
The remaining 3% of transactions was made up of “alternative payments” such as buy now pay later (BNPL) and gift cards.
