Cashless means of payment such as girocard and credit cards are becoming increasingly popular in the retail sector. And yet, in three out of four cases, customers decide to pay in cash at the  point of sale (POS). From retailers’ perspective, this decision is far from immaterial: irrespective of which means of payment a customer opts to use, they all involve costs. But how much does a cash payment cost? Does it take longer? And who bears the costs?

Against this backdrop, the Bundesbank together with the EHI Retail Institute conducted this study on the costs of cash payments. The objective of the study is to determine and compare the costs of cash and card payments in the retail sector. The study also sheds light on how the German retail sector is structured, how long it takes to make a payment at a POS and which activities are taken into account when calculating the costs.