Germany: Cash still going strong…?

Back in February we spoke about how Germany still remains a predominantly cash-based society, although there had been a slight shift towards electronic and contactless payments driven by forward-thinking youngsters and e-commerce. However, this week, a study released by EHI Retail Institute suggests that, for the for the first time in the country’s history, card spending was more popular than traditional cash payments.

The research revealed that in 2018 card payments accounted for 48.6% of retail payments, narrowly overtaking cash with 48.3%. This shift is mainly down to growth in the German e-commerce sector, with the market predicted to increase by 9% this year, reaching €57.8 billion, according to Handelsverband Deutschland.

Despite these numbers, cash use is still strong and shows no signs of disappearing from Germany’s payments landscape. As we mentioned back in February, cash dominates daily small to medium sized transactions, and is expected to continue to do so in the future - Germans demonstrate a strong affinity to cash, with 88% wanting to continue using it in the future, according to Bundesbank.