Of the businesses that do not accept cash, over 40 per cent have stopped accepting it in the last five years. 40 per cent say they have never accepted cash. The main reasons for not accepting cash are the security risk, followed by the time needed to handle cash and finally difficulties in depositing the daily takings. Hairdressers are more likely to cite safety as a reason than other businesses.

Just over a third of businesses report that one payment method has seen a significant decrease in the past year. Of these, 90 per cent say that cash payments have decreased, which is in line with general trends such as cash withdrawals and previous surveys on retail payment behaviour aimed at individuals.

The most important factor for companies to start offering a new payment method is that it is requested by customers (see figure 8). Another factor highlighted is that it has a low cost, and that it is easy to integrate with companies' existing systems.

Figure 8. Customer demand is key to accepting new payment methods The most important factor to start accepting a new payment method, per cent