Around 13.000 people in 13 European countries were asked by ING how they pay and why they use their selected payment methods.
When asked how true or untrue the statement ”The more payment options I have, the better” is, 25% across Europe considered the statement to be completely true. Opposed to this, 13% considered the statement not true at all.
Subtracting the untrue from the true responses gives a net figure of 12% who consider the statement to be true.
But there was considerable variation between countries ranging from a net low of -16% in the Netherlands, to a high of 36% in Romania.
People employed full-time use an average of 5.3 different payment methods
Those employed full-time use an average of 5.3 different payment methods, compared to 4.0 for those who are not working due to being unemployed.
Similarly, those with a master’s or PhD use an average of 5.7 different payment methods, compared to 3.7 for those who did not finish high school.
Consistent trends are also seen across incomes, those earning more than €7k per month use an average of 6.0 different payment methods, those without an income use an average of 3.1.
People who own lots of technology devices tend to use more options
Own 8 different devices and you will use an average of 10.2 different payment options, compared to the 3.1 that are used by those who own one piece of technology.
This is potentially also a reflection of an early adoption mentality. Own more tech devices, be open to experimenting with the latest trends.
Most people tend to use between four and six methods to make payments in-store and online
In the last six months, three in-store payment options – cash (69%), bank card with pin (65%), and tapping a card without a pin (57%) – were used by more than half of survey respondents.
To make online payments over the past month, two options dominated: entering card details on a website (42%) or using online payments system PayPal (48%).
Very few Europeans, just 4%, say they prefer to use their phone to pay for small expenses in-store, over all other options, for example.