Bills, coins, credit card, or payment app? Consumers have a choice at the checkout – but one payment method is increasingly gaining ground.

"Card, please." Debit cards are increasingly becoming the standard method of payment and, according to a survey, have replaced cash as the most commonly used payment method in Europe: 40 percent of respondents prefer to pay with debit cards, according to a sample survey commissioned by the consulting firm Strategy&. 23 percent, however, continue to use notes and coins and prefer to pay for purchases and services in cash.

A few years ago, things looked different: in 2022, on average across Europe, 37 percent preferred cash to payment by debit card (30 percent).

According to the survey, the use of credit cards is also increasing: 22 percent now prefer monthly billing – five percentage points more than in 2022. Payment apps, on the other hand, remain unpopular: only 14 percent prefer using an app to pay – one percentage point more than in 2022. However, the consultants expect app usage to increase.

In Germany, the preference for notes and coins has declined particularly sharply: While more than half of respondents preferred paying with notes and coins in 2022, this figure has fallen to 35 percent, according to the current survey. However, compared to the overall average (23 percent), people in Germany continue to pay with cash more frequently than average. According to consultants, cash payments will continue to account for 10 to 20 percent of the various payment methods in the future.

Strategy& is part of the auditing firm PwC. The commissioned opinion research institute Appinio surveyed a total of 5,500 people for the December survey – 500 each from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Turkey.