Checks a Thing of the Past for Many Members This Holiday Season
Just 2% of shoppers plan to pay for their purchases with checks while 44% plan to use more modern methods.
A miniscule portion of consumers plan to use checks to pay for their holiday gifts this season, but almost half plan to use “emerging payment methods” such as PayPal, Apple Pay or Venmo, according to new data from the National Retail Federation.
Highlighting the massive shift in consumer payments habits over the last few decades, the data showed that just 2% of shoppers planned to pay for their purchases with checks but far more (44%) said they planned to use more modern methods, such as PayPal (35%) (35%), Apple Pay (8%), Samsung Pay (5%), Google Pay (5%) or Venmo (4%).
The trade group’s survey of 7,516 consumers also found that 42% of shoppers planned to do their holiday shopping with credit cards, 39% planned to use debit cards and 17% planned to pay with cash.
“This holiday season retailers will experience the growing purchasing power of Gen Z and millennials,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay noted. “Whether they are still in college or raising children, these consumer groups embrace the tradition of prior generations and take full advantage of Thanksgiving weekend deals both online and in stores.”
The NRF’s latest payments data comes on the heels of a different study, by St. Petersburg, Florida-based PSCU, which found that debit was the most-often used payment method among credit union members for in-store purchases. That study also found that a third of more than 1,500 surveyed credit union and non-credit union members from across the United States were using digital payment methods.
In addition, baby boomers preferred to use credit cards more than any other age group, according to PSCU. They were also more likely to use credit cards instead of cash.
“Consumers are faced with purchasing decisions every day. As the payments landscape continues to evolve at a rapid speed, it is more essential than ever for credit unions and other financial institutions to effectively manage innovation and security to ensure all of their products, services and offerings are meeting consumer expectations,” PSCU Chief Marketing Officer Tom Pierce said.
About three-quarters (77%) of all consumers in the National Retail Federation survey said they planned to spend the same or more on gifts this year. Forty-three percent of people age 18-24 and 38% of people 25-34 said they would spend more.
In other data released this week, the NRF reported that older millennials and Gen Xers were the biggest spenders over this year’s five-day Thanksgiving weekend, shelling out an average of $413.05. Much of that shopping occurred online.
“Americans continue to engage in holiday traditions like spending time with family and friends, exchanging gifts and cooking a special meal,” added Phil Rist, who is EVP of strategy at Prosper Insights & Analytics, which helped prepare the NRF survey. “But today those traditions include going online to research products and compare prices to make informed purchasing decisions.”