Credit card retail payments outstrip cash for first time
Credit cards surpassed cash as the second most popular form of retail payment behind debit cards in 2018, according to the BRC Payments Survey.
The number of retail transactions exceeded 20 billion for the first time in 2018 compared with 19.8 billion the previous year, as overall UK retail sales rose 4.1% to £381bn.
The value of credit card payments hit £81.9bn in the year, comprising 21.5% of the total spend. Debit cards accounted for £216.4bn in transactions – 56.8% of overall retail spend.
The number of transactions made in cash continued to decline, down from more than half of all transactions in 2013 to 38.3% in 2018. The value of cash transactions was £77.7bn during the year, accounting for 20.4% of total retail spend.
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