Cards are now the dominant payment method for more than half of all categories purchased from the average local shop. 

Data from more than 3,000 ShopMate tills in convenience stores revealed cards now account for more than half of sales across 10 out of 16 product and service categories in 2023, up from one in four categories in 2022. 

The only categories where cash is still prevalent are confectionery, hardware, lottery, newspapers and magazines, phone cards and travel cards. Card payment now dominates, alcohol, vaping, chilled, frozen and ambient grocery, household, snacks, soft drinks and tobacco. 

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Vapes showed the biggest swing, with more than 71% of purchases now using cards. Soft drinks also saw a large change to card. “This might be due to the age of consumers of these products or the nature of the way they are consumed – on the go,” ShopMate claimed. 

Pre-pandemic, not a single category had more card purchases than cash in local shops, according to the data. Even in the most cash-heavy categories, card use is still on the rise. 

In 2019, only 5% of newspapers and magazines were paid for with a card, compared with 21% in 2023. The report said this showed that “even those reluctant to switch to card payments are now doing so”.  The rise in card payments is also reflected in cash access. 

In 2021, the ACS claimed 49% of stores had a free-to-use cash machine, falling to 40% in 2023.