NEW YORK—In North America, 60% of consumers use cash to pay for a transaction at least once a week, a substantial decrease from 67% in 2015, according to a new study that also shows mobile payments adoption continues to advance slowly.
The Accenture 2016 North America Consumer Digital Payments Survey, which surveyed more than 4,000 smartphone users in the U.S. and Canada, also found debit and credit cards continue to be the most popular payment method. Debit card usage remained at 58%, while credit card usage was up to 53% (up 3% from 2015).
“While cash use is on the decline, awareness of mobile payments is on the rise. Now more than half (56%) of consumers know about mobile payments, but only 19% use this payment method regularly,” explained Bill Hardekopf, CEO at LowCards.com, Birmingham, Ala.
While mobile payments have yet to take off, other digital payments are on the rise, said Hardekopf.
“For example, PayPal use has increased to 18% (up from 14% in 2014). Consumers are also interested in mobile wallet adoption in the future, and 60% believe they will see an increase in use by card networks and tech giants,” he said.
Michael Abbott, managing director of Accenture digital financial services, North America lead, said the existing payments system isn’t broken, “which is why consumers are not making a mass-move to mobile phone payments adoption—the incentives are not there yet.”
In fact, 64% of consumers have never used their mobile phone to make a payment, and 37% said they have not done so because they think cash and plastic are suitable for their payment needs, the study shows. Twenty-one percent do not want to enter their payment credentials into their mobile phone, and 19% are concerned about unauthorized transactions.
Millennials and mass affluent individuals (those who earn $100,000 a year after taxes) are most likely to make the switch. More than half of both groups said they are among the first to try new technologies, and 30% of Millennials and 35% of the mass affluent are interested in completing transactions with wearables or smart devices, the report shows.
“Last month, card transactions overtook cash payments for the first time,” Hardekopf noted.