Adapting to a New Reality: Why Businesses Should Embrace Cashless

The world has been steadily moving towards cashless spending over the past decade. It’s becoming more common to make payments via a debit or a credit card and most people use online banking in some capacity.

By late 2016, Western Europe was making 66% of payments in cash. But in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the change in making digital payments, with restrictions in place that meant we couldn’t use cash and some merchants refused to accept it altogether.

As we use less cash in our personal lives, why is it important for businesses to make the same transition?

The Covid-19 Pandemic Has Changed Buying Behaviours

Spending habits changed drastically over the course of the pandemic. 22% of people have switched between exclusively shopping in-person to online or phone payments and 41% are not using cash in any in-person payments. Germany, in particular, is still moving towards cashless, which is why businesses need to get ahead of the curve, so they’re at the forefront of the change, rather than playing a game of catch up.

These changes aren’t just being noticed through online payments either. Germany has seen a decline in cash use, with more than half (57%) of people increasingly using card payments. Similarly, the Bank of England reported that there has been a significant fall in cash withdrawn from ATMs in the UK since March 2020. While numbers slowly increased over subsequent months, ATM volumes were still about 40% lower than the previous year.

While there are many benefits for cashless spending for the public, businesses have been slower to make the switch, so what can your organisation expect if it goes cashless?

Providing an Enhanced Duty of Care to Improve Employee Experience

28% of people are avoiding using cash altogether. So, if employee spending behaviour is changing outside of the workplace, it’s important to mirror these changes within the workplace as well. Enabling your work force to make card payments on low value spend rather than relying on cash will mean the changes employees are making in their personal lives can carry on seamlessly while they’re at work.

As we return to business travel, going cashless will increase the safety of employees as they won’t need to worry about carrying cash on them when they’re out and about. On top of this, if they are travelling internationally, employees won’t need to exchange currency as this can all be done automatically if using a debit card.

Gaining Clear Visibility Over Spend

If businesses go cashless now, they won’t be left behind when the rest of the world leaves physical money in the dust. Keeping on top of trends and changing landscapes can be achieved by utilising a unified spend management solution that captures all spend – even if it’s low value – to give you access to the bigger picture without putting added pressure on employees or finance teams.

How Going Cashless Reduces Business Cost

Making payments digitally reduces risk to your company and ensures employees are spending according to policy, which in time will help improve control and compliance. One way to enhance the adoption of cashless spending is to introduce P-Cards, which facilitates spend on low-value items and expenses. 

To find out more, learn how P-Cards can give you visibility over low spend and how Company Bill Statements enables you to use them with ease, take a look at our handy eBook.