Numbers without cash
Growth in electronic payment weakens
For credit card companies and other payment service providers, times are encouraging: the less often people use cash, the better the business. But the boom years could soon be over.
The worldwide rapid growth of card payments and payment apps will slow down in the next few years after expectation of the management consultancy BCG. The company’s financial experts assume that the global yields of the payment industry will increase by about four percent per year to $ 2.4 trillion by 2029. That would be almost half as fast as in the past five years. In Germany, the transition from cash to electronic payment still runs more slowly than in the rest of Europe, as the new edition of the annual “Global Payments Report” means.
Germans are hesitant
According to BCG calculation, German consumers are still comparatively hesitant when calculating the gradual farewell to cash. Last year, every European paid an average of 380 times electronically. However, there are big differences from country to country. According to “Payment’s Report”, the Norwegians were at the top with around 800 transactions per year, in Germany there were only 313.
Accordingly, the finance experts at BCG – known to many people under the longer name Boston Consulting Group – predict an average of two percent a year from 2024 to 2029.
Future trend: The computer buys a
The BCG consultants are expecting more and more rapid technological change in the next few years. A trend: Purchasing with the help of AI agents who are looking for products without further action after the appropriate input, make price comparisons, or even make and pay for the purchase decision. In April, the US group Amazon started a test with a “Buy for me” AI assistant.
dpa
Source: Stern
