One in ten consumers in the Nordic countries now prefer to make mobile payments at the point of sale, double the number who prefer to use cash (5%), making mobile payments the second most popular payment method in the region for the first time, according to figures from regional payments processor Nets.
The figures also show that most Nordic consumers continue to identify card payments as their preferred option for face-to-face transactions (80%), that just over nine in ten “often or sometimes” use contactless payments (91%) and that seven in ten now use mobile payments at the point of sale (70%).
“Cards remain the consumers’ clearly preferred payment method in physical stores in all the Nordic countries,” the researchers say.
“While around nine out of ten consumers prefer cards when shopping in this category, this share is declining slightly. Finns are now the most likely to use cards and Danes the least likely, though the differences are relatively small.
“For the first time ever, mobile payments are the consumers’ second-most preferred payment method in this category. This means that mobile payments, which are a fairly new but now established payment method, are gaining ground in all countries, and percentage-wise most notably in Sweden and Finland.
“However, Denmark is the clear leader here, with 11% now preferring this payment method. A higher proportion of consumers in all countries except Finland now prefer mobile payments to cash, which represents a historic development.
“The percentage of consumers who prefer to pay by cash in stores is around 5%, which is largely unchanged from last year. Apart from in Finland, however, where there has been a significant fall and the share represents a historic low, However, the percentage in Norway and Sweden is rising slightly, even though the differences are small and not statistically significant.”
Nets reported in February that eight in ten card payments made in Nordic countries during 2021 were contactless.
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