Online card payments are becoming more popular

Years ago, when online card payment was already in full swing, customers were much more likely to opt for cash cash instead of card payment. The reason for this is simple: we humans do not trust anyone. Even though online platforms are made as secure as possible by developers, we still don’t dare to leave our money to algorithms. That's why we tried to make payments on our own in almost all circumstances, so if needed we go to the post office or pay more for a product just to be able to pay with our cash on delivery.

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic hit the world, including Hungary, and cash has become almost dangerous, we have been forced to adapt to the situation and take out our card several times. In recent years (largely due to the pandemic) we have set aside our fears and the number of people using online card payments has started to increase significantly. In addition to the pandemic, this is also due to the fact that, for example, an ultra-secure system (two-factor authentication system) has been introduced in Hungary as well.

After shopping in online stores, while cash on delivery is still popular, we are increasingly moving towards cashlessness.

What are the factors that still make cash payment the most popular?

• among the World's population cash payment is long-term mindset

• some employees still receive their salary in cash

• due to liquidity problems, we prefer to repay afterwards

• due to mistrust, we don’t want our card information misused

• demographic composition: the average age of online shoppers is about 45 years

• due to the flexibility of the domestic market, cash on delivery is possible

The change of these factors will also affect the frequency of online card payments, so we can expect an even more significant growth in this area of payments in the future.

Overall, the frequency of online card purchases has started to grow slowly in the recent years, and the pandemic gave a kick to this. In the future, the current, mostly positive experience is expected to further increase the use of online card payments and the factors that facilitate the cash payment mentioned above will disappear gradually. However, we will probably not experience these changes fully in the next few years.