Mobile payments on the rise in Spain as the use of cash decreases
Spain is gradually increasing the use and acceptance of mobile payments, while the use of cash is decreasing, according to the ‘Study of mobile payment trends in Spain’ carried out by the Spanish fintech Pecunpay, specialized in groundbreaking payment and electronic money processing solutions, partnered with Visa, the leading digital payment technology company.
Payment methods in Spain are undergoing a profound transformation. Even before the pandemic, we could observe digital payments were gradually growing. As a result, the use of mobile payments, though in an incipient way, was on the rise among Spaniards. For instance, 34% of the 2000 people who have taken part in this study say they make payments with their mobile. Furthermore, mobile payments are the third preferred payment option (12%), right after cards (60%) and cash payments (22%).
Of those who pay with their mobile, almost 7% say they always use their device as a payment method, 11% often and 16% sometimes. Likewise, mobile payments were the most widely used payment method amongst men (38.6%), those aged between 18-29 (38%) and 30-44 years (37.9%), and the residents of the Regions of Cantabria (46%), Madrid (45.5%) and Catalonia (44%).
Antonio García Cruz, CEO of Pecunpay, says: ‘This study shows that consumers are clearly demanding access to mobile payments. At Pecunpay, we are going to further innovate in this regard, with initiatives such as our agreement with Visa, with whom we have recently launched the implementation of the Xpays service or mobile payments with ApplePay and GooglePay, where users will be able to add Visa/Pecunpay cards to their mobile devices and pay at any establishment or e-commerce, or even through their Apple and Google wallets’.
Carmen Alonso, the Director of Business Development at Visa for Southern Europe, says: ‘I am sure the implementation of digital payments also has to do with the confidence and security they offer to users and merchants. In recent months where we have experienced an increase in contactless payments and e- commerce, fraud has remained at historic lows. This is why at Visa we work to offer the best security solutions to protect the payment ecosystem while partnering with relevant agents such as Pecunpay to bring the most cutting-edge technology to the market’.
Recurrence and benefits
Of the 34% of respondents who currently pay with their mobile, almost 7 out of 10 (67%) state they have increased their use since the beginning of the pandemic. The main benefits include avoiding contact with surfaces (63%), the speed of this method (62%) and the ease of use (47%).
Moreover, their average expenditure when they pay with their mobile is below €50, where almost half of them (47.8%) spend €25-50 and 36% spend less than €25.
