75% of retail transactions paid on card

More than 75% of UK retail transactions now involve cards, according to the latest analysis from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Just 22% of transactions now involve cash, says the BRC in its 2018 Payments Survey. Retailers ended up spending an extra £170m on processing card payments over the year largely, says the BRC, thanks to card scheme fees that rose between 30% and 100% for some transactions.

The BRC Payments Survey questioned 48% of the retail industry and looked at the payment methods that UK shoppers use when they buy goods in store and online, how this has changed since last year and how much it costs retailers on average to handle each method of payment.

BRC head of payments and consumer credit Andrew Cregan said: "EU payment regulation introduced in 2015 delivered savings for the retail industry and consumers, but these benefits have now been eroded by increases in other card fees. In fact, many smaller retailers have questioned whether savings were ever passed on by card companies. The BRC is now looking to the Government and regulator to tackle the alarming increases to card scheme fees imposed by retailers and for action to simplify the complex fees and charges levied by the card payments industry."

To ensure ActSmart can provide the best solution for all business we have two card processing partners; Global Payments for established businesses with medium to high card turnover and Paya Card Services for newer or smaller businesses with lower card volumes, both of which have transparent pricing so you know exactly what you are paying for.

To find out which solution is right for you, visit the Card Processing service page.

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