TWO-THIRDS of Spanish residents now pay for everything they can by card or mobile phone, and seven in 10 carry less than €5 in their purses, according to the most recent Bank of Spain survey.
Already, as a result of the pandemic, by July last year, card and mobile phone payments had overtaken cash for first time ever, with the latter relegated to 45.5% of transactions – and yet, seven months previously, around 87% of the population used notes and coins as their default method.
With physical money being discouraged when Covid-19 hit Spain for the first time and the entire nation went into full lockdown on March 16, 2020, the way people pay in shops and bars is yet another dramatic about-turn in everyday culture the virus has caused, along with working from home, Zoom meetings with family and friends, and companies and public sector offices no longer insisting customers attend in person to be able to serve them.
The Bank of Spain's 'national survey on use of cash in 2020' differs from previous market research conducted, insofar as it asked traders as well as the general public about their attitudes to different payment methods.
Traders now prefer cards – even small retailers
In keeping with the study last July, over 54% - the same number as back then – say they preferred to pay with a debit card, although the actual figure of those whose cash transactions are only a minority is much higher: A total of 36.6% used notes and coins wherever and whenever they could.
Similar research by the Bank of Spain in 2014 put this figure at nearly 80%.
Large retailers, department stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets have been accepting non-cash payments now for 20 years or more, and smaller businesses taking cards for high amounts, but it is only recently, according to the report, that traders of all sizes have been expressing a preference for card transactions, even for very low amounts of money.
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