Consumers Believe Cashless Payments Are Better 76% of the Time: Study

The majority of customers think that the primary benefit of paying online over Cash on Delivery (COD) is the security of the payment option provided on a business website.

According to the findings of the 2022 Stay Secure survey conducted by Visa and Daraz, 76% of consumers said that cashless payments were preferable because of the security of the payment options offered on merchant websites.

13 percent of consumers said that the price of goods or services was not the most crucial factor when selecting a payment method, whereas 63 percent of consumers thought that online payments ensured the security of their payment information.

63 percent of consumers placed the security of the merchant's payment facility as the most important consideration when thinking about digital payment choices, while 44 percent considered guarantees and return policies as the most important consideration. 43 percent of respondents thought that when evaluating digital payment options, speed and convenience were the most important considerations.

In the past month, three out of every four questioned consumers stated they had made a digital payment. Since the start of Covid-19, about half of the respondents said they have increased their use of digital payments in stores and online.

Consumers claim to be 75 percent confident in their ability to spot fraud or scams in the online world. But one-third of those polled claimed to still have difficulties in this area. Before giving a business their personal information, 82% of shoppers indicated they want to know how it will be protected.

Additionally, 75% of respondents said that in order to trust digital payment methods in general, they would like to understand how security technology functions. This emphasizes the significance of consumer education by payment industry stakeholders, including financial institutions, payments companies, and governments, to increase consumer trust in digital payments.

According to Neil Fernandes, who oversees risk for Visa in the Middle East and North Africa, the survey's findings are crucial for businesses trying to win and keep customers' trust in their payment options. He emphasized the fact that a third of customers are still unable to recognize a possible fraud, which emphasizes the necessity for all participants in the payments ecosystem to keep collaborating to protect consumers.

Ehsan Saya, managing director of Daraz (Alibaba Group), emphasized that even as more individuals get comfortable shopping online, data security and privacy concerns continue to be a major barrier. He emphasized that the "Stay Secure program" works to address this problem by instructing both retailers on how to create a secure and user-friendly online payment system and consumers on how to stay safe when making purchases online. He anticipated that through promoting the program, people would learn how to spot possible scams.