CASH is no longer king if you're a shopper, new figures show.
Credit card spending overtook cash payments last year in terms of the value of sales made, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
The popularity of plastic pushed cash into third place, with debit cards remaining the most popular payment method, the BRC's payments survey said.
Last year, debit cards accounted for 56.8 per cent of sales by value, while credit and charge cards accounted for 21.5 per cent and cash made up 20.4 per cent of the total.
It meant that plastic accounted for nearly 80 per cent of retail sales by value last year.
Cash was used to pay for £77.7 billion worth of goods in 2018, compared with £80.6 billion in 2017 when it accounted for 22 per cent of sales value and credit and charge cards made up 20.8 per cent.
But in terms of the volume of payments made, cash remained the second most popular payment method, with coins and notes still commonly used for smaller transactions.
Last year, 9.3 billion transactions were made by debit card, 7.7 billion were in cash and 2.6 billion were made using credit and charge cards.
The average value of a cash payment last year was £10.21, slightly down on £10.78 in 2017 (the mean value of a cash payment has remained around £10 for several years).
But the average transaction made by credit card had a higher value at £31.71.
Northern Ireland Retail Consortium director Aodhán Connolly said: “Retailers have invested significantly to make shopping easier and more convenient for local consumers using card payments.
“The availability of contactless card machines, self-service tills as well as online retailing has increased the use of cards in place of cash.
“But cash remains an important part of the payment mix, accounting for two out of every five retail transactions, although it has been eclipsed for the first time in terms of retail spend by the use of credit cards.
“That’s great for consumers, but retailers continue to shoulder significant hidden transaction costs. The UK government and regulators need to do more to tackle this to allow retailers to keep prices low for Northern Ireland shoppers.”
The BRC also said total UK retail sales increased by 4.1 per cent to £381 billion in 2018, from £366 billion the previous year.
There were 20.1 billion transactions in a single year - or more than 55 million per day - up from 19.8 billion in 2017.
Card costs continued to rise, the BRC said, as retailers spent £1.3 billion with third parties just to accept payments from customers, up £70 million from 2017.
Each transaction costs retailers an average of 5.85p.
Cash remains the most cost-effective payment acceptance channel for retailers, with cards being more costly to process, the report said.
The BRC is calling for action to improve regulation of card payment fees.
It also said Brexit could see retailers paying "significantly more" to accept foreign-issued cards.
Andrew Cregan, BRC policy adviser for payments and consumer credit, said: "With card payments accounting for almost 80 per cent of retail sales, it is vital that the Government takes action to tackle the soaring costs that card companies charge retailers.
"Without action, we will see businesses put under further pressure and it will be consumers who are forced to pay the price."
The BRC's survey was completed by retailers who represent over a third (34 per cent) of UK retail annual sales turnover.
