More and more Swedes are seeing cashless stores

Published 7 June 2024 at 08.11

Economy. Seven out of ten Swedes, 70 percent, think it is bad that more and more stores stop accepting cash, according to a new survey from Verian commissioned by Bankomat. The corresponding figure in the first survey in 2020 was 50 percent.

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– Even among people who most often use digital payment methods, there is an understanding of the societal need for must be able to pay with cash. That cash works as a means of payment is important both for people in digital exclusion and for society's crisis preparedness, says Johan Nilsson, marketing director at Bankomat AB.

The new survey from Verian, formerly Kantar Sifo, shows that 70 percent of Swedes think it is very or rather bad that more and more stores stop accepting cash. The corresponding figure was 67 percent in 2023, 60 percent in 2022 and 50 percent in 2020.

The percentage of respondents who think it is very or fairly good that stores stop accepting cash has decreased from 46 percent in 2020 to 25 percent in 2024.

– The demand for cash is steadily decreasing, and then the financial incentives for private companies to handle cash are also decreasing. Today there is only one value company in Sweden. It has made it both more expensive and more difficult for trade to get hold of change and to hand in cash, and therefore many traders have stopped accepting cash payments, says Johan Nilsson in a press release.

In March 2023 suggested an investigation led by Anna Kinberg Batra that a law should be introduced that people should have the right to pay cash for prescription medicines. In January this year, Financial Markets Minister Niklas Wykman (M) appointed a new investigation into the possibility of paying with cash. The investigator Dennis Dioukarev (SD) must report the results of the assignment no later than December 31, 2024.

– It is reasonable with legislation that cash should be accepted as a means of payment for medicines and perhaps also for certain other essential goods. But forcing all merchants to accept cash is not a good solution, as many are already struggling with their profitability. Instead, trade should take social responsibility through self-regulation, while the state should introduce incentives that make it more attractive for trade to handle cash, says Johan Nilsson.