Cashless Payments Make You Spend More: Research

Consumers tend to spend more money when using cashless payment methods rather than traditional cash, Australian university researchers revealed. The findings were published in the Journal of Retailing following an analysis of 71 research papers from 17 countries that included data from 11,000 unique individuals. In the paper, the authors noted that 40 years of research links cashless payment methods, such as credit cards or Apple Pay, to higher consumer spending. This is also referred to as the “cashless effect.” “I believe this research is crucial because it shines a light on an overlooked aspect of this transition: how payment methods influence our spending behaviour,” said lead author Lachlan Schomburgk, a Ph.D. student at the University of Adelaide....