Shoppers keep an eye on spending, survey shows
CAUTIOUS customers are turning their backs on credit cards and turning to cash or debit cards to pay for shopping, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) revealed today.
Use of credit cards dropped by 12.9 per cent in 2010, while use of debit cards climbed by 15.8 per cent.
“Hard-pressed customers are switching to cash and debit cards for the reassurance that they can’t spend what they haven’t got,” BRC chief Stephen Robertson said.
“Cash remains king – used for more than half of all retail payments,” he added. Cash payments on the high street take an average of 27.2 seconds, the survey said, compared to 39.4 seconds for payment with plastic.