1.9 million people do not want to use cash going forward: PayPal
65% of Irish shoppers said cashless is important for them, while 81% believe supporting local economy is key to emerging from crisis
Print1 July 2020
New research from PayPal, conducted by Ipsos and involving 2,000 consumers in Ireland, reveals that cashless will be crucial as Irish consumers look to support local businesses following the Covid-19 lockdown.
The survey revealed that 81% of Irish consumers believe supporting the local economy is key to emerging from the current crisis[1] *and 66% of Irish consumers plan to buy more local or regional products in the future.
However, while the trend looks set to be shopping locally and in-person for the foreseeable future, with over half (57%) of respondents preferring face-to-face services, cash appears to have fallen out of favour for the majority of people.
A cashless approach is important for almost two thirds (65%) of Irish shoppers. In fact, 39% do not want to use cash going forward – that translates to more than 1.9 million people**.
Some 67% of shoppers revealed they are open to trying new contactless methods in shops, with 61% preferring to avoid touching a card reader pad when making purchases.
Influence of community spirit
Despite the increasing popularity of online international shopping in Ireland in recent years,*** the study showed that people have chosen to support local shops and smaller businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Smaller businesses and stores were found to be the most popular option for consumers throughout the lockdown, with almost two thirds (62%) choosing them in order to support their local and the national economy. Other popular reasons cited for doing so were that consumers had made purchases in these shops previously (38%) and it was faster to get the product (29%).
Three quarters (75%) of people are more conscious of the importance of community and working together, with older respondents (81%) more mindful of this than younger ones (69%)****.
Clearly, based on this research, the importance of community has been heightened recently and is having an impact on behaviours with almost one in six people in Ireland doing grocery shopping for relatives or neighbours during the Covid-19 crisis. Furthermore, one in 20 people have taken to making or selling products, such as face masks, due to the emergence of Covid-19.
‘Change is needed’
“The Covid-19 lockdown impacted everyone and many uncertainties still remain, but there is a silver lining in that communities are coming together in Ireland and supporting each other – not just people helping others but also spending with local businesses and retailers,” said Annette Hickey, vice-president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Customer Services, PayPal.
“This will continue to be vital as we move forward and take steps towards economic recovery, but change is needed. As our research shows, consumers want to invest in the regions where they live but there is a demand for new ways of shopping and paying, as can be seen with the large proportion of people who don’t want to use cash or touch a card reader,” she added.
“With more than 1.35 million customers in Ireland, we know how important it is for people to be able to manage, move and spend their money how they want and via the methods they choose. So, as well as implementing measures to help facilitate socially distanced shopping, businesses need to enable people to purchase goods in different ways in-store or, alternatively, buy online.”
*(Source: IPSOS data. Statistics are drawn from a nationally representative survey of 2,000 members of the general Irish population. Conducted by IPSOS on behalf of PayPal between 8th to 15th May 2020. All statistics are taken from this source, unless listed otherwise)
*(Source: In 2019, the Central Statistics office released figures showing that 4.92 million people were living in the country. Based on this, 39% of same equates to approx. 1.9 million people)
3 PayPal′s Global Cross Border Commerce Report, conducted by Ipsos, in 2018 found that Irish online shoppers had spent an estimated €2.7BN overseas in the past 12 months, with the research taking place between 13th March 2018 and 1st May 2018.
4 69% of 18-44 year olds were conscious of community/importance of working together, while 81% of 45-65+ year olds were conscious of community/importance of working together. (Taken from IPSOS data – see footnote 1.)
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