You must notice how our everyday lives are becoming more and more cashless every day. New technologies are inventing easy ways of making payments, from contactless pay to paying with your mobile phone, and as such the need for physical cash is quickly diminishing. In research conducted by Expert Market, it was found that Brits are becoming cash-phobic, and are much less prone to use it in today’s cashless society.
Being cashless is on the rise and small businesses need to acknowledge this and adapt to the inevitable changes. The main purpose of Expert Market’s survey was to investigate how different age groups felt about cashless payments, as well as finding out if customers’ purchase decisions were effected by small businesses that only took cash.
The research was a result of 16,000 participants being questioned in three generational groups; the millennials, Gen X and the baby boomers, and the results showed that no matter the age group, the majority of the participants were frustrated by cash only businesses. It really drives customer away, especially if they are not carrying enough cash to cover the payment. Small businesses need to adapt and embrace the future that will surely be cashless, with participants believing that cash will become redundant in the near future. This should really give small businesses and start-ups a push to get on board with cashless payments.
It was also found that small businesses and start-ups are missing out on significant profits from not being up-to-date with the latest technology. The tech generation of the millennials, reported that 68% of them had wanted to make a purchase from small business, but could not because they only accepted cash. 50% of baby boomer and 56% of Gen X also faced this problem.
There are many reasons that people are less likely to use cash in today’s society, the main one being the ease of cashless payments and being able to make a purchase without carrying cash. The research showed that one in five millennials only carry £5 in cash or less, and that a large number of millennials are avoiding using cash altogether now.
Unless small businesses start diversifying their payment methods, they face the risk of losing customers to competitors. The future is predicted to be cashless, with 39% of millennials and 34% of Gen X and Baby boomers thinking that cash will become obsolete in the next 25 years. So, small businesses really need to make a priority to adapt and invest in cashless payments.
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