Cashless Payment Methods Popular Across Canada
There is a famous saying that “cash is king” and while this concept is likely to be true for many years to come, an increasing number of Canadian consumers are using “cashless” high-tech payment methods. Whether paying bills or making everyday purchases of coffee, food, clothing or gasoline - using debit cards, credit cards, “tap-and-pay” options, smartphone apps, and other cashless technology is growing in popularity across Canada. According to a recent survey of 1,000 people conducted online in 2015 by the Moneris payment processing firm, 65% of respondents revealed that they hardly ever use cash to make purchases, plus 77% of those surveyed stated that they prefer to use their debit/credit cards to pay bills or make purchases.
In 2015, approximately 68% of people who live in Canada own smartphones, which is a significant increase over the 55% of Canadians who had smartphones in 2014, according to surveys conducted of 1,100 people across Canada in 2014 and again in 2015 by Catalyst and GroupM Next. In fact, around three-million people who live in Canada (which has a total population of 35 million) bought their first smartphone during the final six months of 2014. The “smartphone revolution” has not only changed how Canadians “surf” the Internet, read or watch the news, check their emails and stay in touch with family and friends via social media - the increasing prevalence of smartphones has also altered how people who live in Canada conduct their banking and pay for many common purchases, such as meals, movie tickets, and more. Most banks in Canada and many Canadian companies offer customers smartphone apps that allow them to shop or make payments online, as well as complete in-person purchases, that many consumers consider quick and convenient.
At the end of 2013, Canada was ranked #3 in the world for use of cashless payment methods (following #1 Belgium and #2 France), according to the “Cashless Journey Report” released by MasterCard. The Bank of Canada further revealed in May 2015 that the majority of all financial transactions made in Canada are now done using cashless methods. So, while “cash is king” around the globe (at least, for the time being), in Canada cash is “going the way of the dinosaurs” and may one day remain simply as something that Canadians collect as a hobby.
