Paying by card can increase your spending

Paying by card is a habit that can have consequences for your spending.

For many shoppers, it has become an entirely routine gesture. When they reach the supermarket checkout, plenty of them take out their bank card to pay. But what if this seemingly harmless ritual has an impact? This behaviour does, in fact, produce an unexpected effect that several studies have already identified.

Card payments and higher spending

Simply paying by card appears to encourage us to spend more than we would if we used cash. In a study published in the Journal of Retailing in 2024, Australian researchers examined 71 studies carried out across 17 countries, involving 11,000 participants.

A “small” but “significant” effect

Their findings confirm a “cashless effect”: digital payments lead to higher spending than cash transactions. The authors describe this effect as “small” but “significant”.

How can this be explained? Quoted by L’Internaute, reporting on the BBC, Richard Whittle, an economist at Salford Business School, says: “The convenience of paying by card can lead consumers to spend without thinking and buy things they do not really need.”

Why cash feels different

Stuart Mills, a senior lecturer in economics at the University of Leeds, takes a similar view, adding: “Cash gives immediate and visible feedback on what we are spending.” It is precisely this uncomfortable moment of handing over cash that prevents some customers from going ahead with a purchase.

The scientists now hope that everyone will be made aware of their conclusions. Whether academics, consumers, professionals or even policymakers, all should consider the influence that cashless payment has on spending.