The Payments Digital Divide Survey

Key insights for a more inclusive society

Although most of us have already adopted digital payment methods, some are yet to fully embrace this way to pay leading to a payments digital divide. So, what are the reasons why some people don't wish to make the switch?

To answer this question, the Worldline Discovery Hub conducted a survey to understand how people prefer to pay and, more importantly, what is driving these preferences.

With a foreword by Leo Van Hove, Professor of Economics at Vrije Universiteit Brussel

“It identifies what I see as a key policy issue in today’s payments landscape…whatever your background, I am confident that you will find plenty food for thought in the report”

In this report, we present the results of this survey to reveal:

• The generational cliff-edge for cash and why some people still prefer to pay with it
• Which digital payment methods people currently prefer
• How perceived benefits lead people to choose particular payment methods
• Whether mobile payments can bridge the payments digital divide, or whether they will be leapfrogged by new, alternative payment methods
• The link between adoption of digital payments and wider innovations in retail and banking
• People’s attitudes towards digital currencies and what will be needed for them to succeed

Key findings

74% of respondents who prefer to pay with cash would not be happy to complete all their payments digitally

Over 68% of respondents perceive digital payment methods to be convenient

Gen-Z prefers digital payments for every type of use (in-store, online and paying friends and family)

There’s a generational shift towards preferring mobile payments

54% of our survey population said they did not know of any benefits of digital currencies

People were more happy to completely abandon cash than they were with autonomous payments (such as checkout-less stores)

This report sets out a vision for how the payment industry can reduce the payments digital divide by taking action to shape the payment landscape to make it more trusted, inclusive, accessible and convenient for everyone.