Is retail ready for a cashless society?

Studies reveal that cash usage halved within less than a month of the first reported cases of coronavirus in the UK.

Now, even as we move out of the pandemic and enter a ‘new normal’ that is seeing retailers get back onto their feet, many individuals are still turning to card or online payments.

And, even though just 21% of UK citizens show a desire for a completely cashless switch, the ball very much seems to be rolling into that court.

This switch isn’t going to happen overnight, but with experts predicting that we could be on our way to a cashless society as early as 2023, and with countries like Poland almost entirely cashless already, retailers need to prepare if they want to stay ahead.

Obviously, a lot of the changes over the past 18 months have already facilitated this shift to some extent.

Further to that, retailers could also benefit from continuing to focus on a few key cashless priorities, the most prevalent of which we’ll discuss here.

An ongoing focus on online sales

E-commerce grew 46% during 2020 alone. That’s the largest increase in a decade and, while restrictions on physical shopping largely paved the way, the ease of e-commerce transactions is sure to have made a mark.

Add to this the fact that major retailers like Amazon are trialing same-day deliveries, and we could soon see e-commerce sales outstripping traditional retail.

By making sure to keep one finger on online sales even as physical stores reopen, retailers can certainly place themselves at the forefront of cashless transactions, all without really having to change what they’ve been doing until now.

An expansion of payment options

Retailers should also start considering an expansion of their payment options to ensure ongoing accessibility despite changes.

While cash or cards were the only options as little as ten years ago, it’s certainly not unusual to now see retailers accepting everything from Google Pay transactions through to general mobile payments.

Retailers like Lush and Shopify are also now accepting ledger wallet cryptocurrency payments, and many more will soon join them. Quite simply, the more payment options that retailers offer, the better poised they’ll be to go cashless.

A reliable EPoS

Businesses have long implemented EPoS (electronic points of sale) systems to facilitate card payments, but with a cashless society on the horizon, businesses could also benefit from reconsidering what a reliable EPoS looks like.

As mentioned, systems now need to facilitate the widest possible range of payment options, and recent EPoS implementations like Square, Toast, and Revel are leading the way in that sense.

By integrating these systems now, retailers put themselves in the best position to adjust if predictions of a cashless society do come true.

A cashless society can seem daunting to retailers, and those who fail to innovate could certainly find themselves left behind.

Luckily, many retailers are already halfway towards this switch without even realising it. Now, all that’s needed is a few finishing touches to bring cashlessness within easy reach at last.

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