Alternative Payments Made Up Over 50% Of Consumer Purchases In The U.K. Last Year

Consumers in Britain have made it clear that cash is not king.

According to Finextra, UK consumers opt to reach for their credit cards or other alternative forms of payment in more than 50 percent of all transactions. Back in 2014, the market share of cash payments dipped below the 50 percent mark, and the trend carried over into 2015 when consumers opted to use contactless cards for everyday purchases.

The total number of transactions that involved cash throughout the country in 2015 fell 6 percent from the prior year to just over 17 billion. Over the past 10 years, cash payment volumes have reduced by 28 percent.

One of the growing payment categories, as noted by Finextra, is the use of mobile payment services. In fact, Paypal Holdings Inc PYPL is a major player in the mobile payment market in the U.K.

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Paypal Here, a mobile payment system, offers consumers the ability to pay for a purchase using their smartphone via the PayPal Here app.

The other notable mobile payment system, Apple Inc. AAPL's Apple Pay, is a major competitor to PayPal, and the two companies appear to be gearing up for a long-term battle. Finextra also said in its report that U.K. consumers are expected to decrease their use of cash for transactions by another 34 percent through 2025, a trend that investors can reasonably assume will be a worldwide phenomenon.

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