New payment habits in Spain 2023: the card and smartphone era

In the digital era, the way we manage our money is undergoing a fundamental change. The recent survey "New habits in payment methods in Spain 2023", which we launched a few months ago at PaynoPain, as experts in payment methods, has shed light on how Spaniards are evolving in their payment preferences. Below, we will analyse four key conclusions from this revealing study:

The card, the favourite method 

Our research reveals that the shift towards digital and contactless payment trends that we have been seeing in recent years is becoming more and more pronounced. 

On a day-to-day basis, the respondents' favourite payment method is the card with almost 60%, followed by payment via wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Pay with more than 25%, covering 85% of the respondents. In third place, with 12%, is cash.

On the other hand, 80.7% of respondents say that they carry some cash in their wallet, but the amount would not exceed 10 euros. In addition, 55% of respondents say they rarely make cash payments in physical shops. This shift marks a clear trend towards the convenience and security of cards to the detriment of cash. 

In travel cards, mobile and non-bank payments

During their travels, 87.6% of Spaniards also prefer to use credit and/or debit cards, significantly outperforming cash, which is only chosen by 20%.  In addition, almost half of the respondents (46%) say they use services such as Apple Pay or Google Pay during their travels, demonstrating the convenience of mobile payments everywhere.

In addition, during stays abroad, 66.5% of travellers say they prefer to use their bank cards, followed by 18.5% who prefer to use a card from a non-bank, such as Revolut or N26, which allows them to control currency exchanges during their stay abroad. 

Security above all 

The results also highlight that Spaniards place a high value on the security of their transactions. A total of 59.4% of respondents consider payment security to be of the utmost importance, outweighing other aspects such as additional bank costs and overspending.

Moreover, according to the study, 38.6% of Spaniards have fallen into the hands of cybercriminals, while 38.1% have avoided it, but have suffered "some attempt". In other words, only 4 out of 10 people have been able to live with peace of mind when paying online. This underlines the urgent need for merchants to offer a secure payment experience to maintain consumer confidence and ensure worry-free transactions in the digital age.

Online shopping drives retail

Over the past few years, we have observed that e-commerce is growing steadily, and this survey reinforces that trend. Some 64% of respondents prefer to buy fashion and accessories online, beating even travel and accommodation by two percentage points. This data underscores the importance of the retail sector in today's digital economy. E-commerce has become a determining factor for business growth, and Spanish consumers have embraced it in a significant way.

The phone becomes the new wallet

Mobile phones are changing the way we make payments. According to the survey, a staggering 78.1% of respondents have made at least one payment using their mobile phone. Not only that, but a third of respondents prefer this payment method when making purchases in physical shops.

In terms of sectors, food and supermarkets lead in mobile payments (68.5%), followed by hotels and restaurants (60.3%), and fashion and accessories (45.7%). 

The future is all about convenience and technology

In summary, the recent survey we launched at PaynoPain indicates a clear trend of users embracing convenience and security in the latest payment methods. Credit/debit cards and smartphones are gradually displacing cash, while security remains a constant priority. E-commerce is flourishing, especially in the retail sector, underlining the importance of digitalisation in business. 

According to users' own forecasts for the future, almost 52% are betting on biometric payments such as payments with our face, iris or fingerprint as the payment method of the future, followed by smartphone payments or digital wallets, which are already a reality. The future of payments in Spain seems to be strongly rooted in convenience and technology.