The survey of a sample of about 800 respondents provides a deep insight into attitudes towards modern methods of non-cash payments among Poles.

When it comes to being seen as modern - among the different methods of non-cash payments available on the Polish market - contactless payments are the ones mostly perceived as such (41% of responses to the spontaneous question), followed by payments via mobile devices (36%), payment cards or online bank transfers (35% of responses respectively).

The perception of being modern is not however always followed by acceptance and wider usage in real life. It did prove right for contactless payments and credit cards: the results of the research show a strong connection between the knowledge and usage of this form of payments. 96% of respondents had heard about c-less payments and credit cards, while 82% are the users who represent the 9% increase in comparison with last year’s results.

The survey also demonstrates the sharp contrast in the case of payment systems such as PayPal, SkyCash, MobilNET (75% of respondents knew about them, but only 14% declared they are users) or payments via mobile phone using NFC technology (known by 74% but used by only 4%).

Electronic payments are mostly valued by Poles because of the speed and time savings (over half of the respondents, 55%) and using them means that you do not need to carry cash (20%). Another important element associated with this type of payment is convenience stated by over 1/3 of the respondents (35%).

Furthermore, the research shows – especially in the case of non-cash payments for small-scale shopping – almost 40% of respondents indicated they were denied payment by card for purchases of minor amounts: still it confirms that one of the biggest barriers to the further popularity of this type of payments are the sellers.

Yet, the values most associated with electronic payment are user friendly (90% of respondents), innovation (43%) and security (36%).

Transaction security has always been an issue widely discussed whenever the subject of modern payment methods comes along. Generally different payment methods are perceived as equally secure, as for example payment system by mobile phone (authorization-code) or contactless payment/credit card: in the last three year period, the latter have been assessed with the highest security level.

The really interesting data come when respondents were asked if they personally knew anyone who had fallen victim to a fraud: a positive answer was given by only 15% of respondents and 24% were convinced it had been provoked by the victim’s recklessness and negligence.

45% of Polish respondents confirm they are less and less interested in novelties in the field of payment options, because there are already so many of them. Promoting additional forms of non-cash payment will face increasing difficulties arising from competition, as there are already many services available on the market. With even greater novelties like Google app for payments, the majority of consumers simply do not have an opinion whether it could be a solution for them or not. As a result, the launch of such innovations will require a complex communication, but on the other hand it is a good opportunity to promote benefits of using modern forms of payments.

Nearly 2/3 of respondents recognize that both banks and customers are beneficiaries of modern methods of non-cash payments. When it comes to banks’ benefits, the most frequent element pointed out is profit, but also promotion of the institution, while convenience and speed are praised from the customers’ perspective. Additionally, 56% of the respondents consider it very or rather important if the bank offers innovative solutions when taking a decision about being a client of bank.

Being familiar with new payment methods does not correspond to the acceptance of new players on the market; a non bank institution offering the opening of a bank account is perceived as an attractive proposal by only 17%, while 38% have not got strong opinion about it.

While it is a common belief that the market offers plenty of payment card solutions for businesses like e-shops, the results of the survey show a different picture in the case of the public sector. Nearly 75% of respondents, who had not had such a possibility, would like to pay in public administration offices by card. 72% would prefer to pay a traffic ticket issued by a policeman, 71% would prefer to pay a fine to the conductor when caught with an invalid ticket and 64% would be interested in paying income tax using a card.

The study was conducted between 28 August and 9 September 2015 using the Computer-Assisted Web Interviews (CAWI) method involving 803 respondents who have accounts that can be accessed online from the Poland-wide representative sample of Internet users.