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24 Luglio 2019

Increasing digital payments under the beach umbrella

The digital evolution of Italians' payment habits is in the public eyes and now this process does not stop even with the incoming summer holidays. According to the surveys of the Digital Innovation Observatories of the Politecnico of Milan, last year the so-called "new digital payments" (alternative payments to cash and traditional POS, that is to say the transactions related to products, services, bills, fines and other conveyed through PCs, tablet, smartphone and contactless Pos) touched 80 billion euros, for the first time overtaking the proximity component (in-store) over online (49 billion against 31 billion).

The recent extension of a strong infrastructure ready to accept digital payments on the most attractive coasts of Liguria, Tuscany, Puglia and other coastal regions, with over 200 plants ready to use these tools, shows how digital payments have become part of consumers' everyday life, even on their holidays. The proverbial Italian mistrust towards payment cards is therefore progressively thinning out.

This statistical increase could push several traders, still reluctant to adopt these tools, to decide to accept them finally.

Although the progress is now evident, Italy remains a country with an ample liquidity, in which the cash, branched within the uses of consumers, will continue to be central. It will therefore be very likely that we will still find some locations where it will not be so obvious to pay with these new tools