site.btaGrowing Number of Bulgarians Prefer Cashless Payment Methods, Survey Shows

The annual research report Lost in Transaction: Consumer Payment Trends 2022 – Navigating online payments in the age of uncertainty, commissioned by Paysafe, a leading specialized payments platform, which is also one of the biggest software companies in Bulgaria, showed a persistent trend whereby more and more Bulgarians prefer cashless payments which also offer better options of control of spending, Paysafe said. The survey was conducted by Sapio Research and traced the change in customer behaviour and payment preferences in a time when the world is recovering from the coronavirus pandemic and inflation continues to grow. 

The change in attitudes emerged as early as in 2020 with the onset of the pandemic. When this happened, 52% of the Bulgarians said they paid less in cash compared to two years before. The Covid-19 crisis made 41% of the Bulgarians permanently change their payment habits. Another factor that contributed to this change is the rising cost of living (for 45%) at the end of 2021 and the start of 2022 when inflation scaled new heights. 

The survey showed that compared to a year earlier, the Bulgarians (45%) use their debit cards considerably more often than respondents in Britain (39%), Germany (29%), Italy (21%), and Austria (21%). Nearly 75% of the Bulgarian respondents used a debit card in the past month when paying for online purchases. 

Payments via digital wallets increased their shared among the Bulgarian customers (24%) compared to a year earlier. 

Although the pandemic changed tangibly the attitudes of consumers towards preference for cashless payments, 62% of the Bulgarians would be concerned if they could not pay in cash for services or goods. For 54% of them the cash payment is still the most reliable method of payment. 

Face-to-face contact and the personal attitude of bank consultants remain an important factor for Bulgarian consumers with 47% preferring traditional banks because they offer better customer service and provide professional financial advice. Together with this, 61% say that online banks, or neobanks, offer better digital user experience compared to traditional banks. 

The survey is part of Paysafe's annual Lost In Transaction consumer research series, which the company has released every year since 2017. The 2022 research was conducted by Sapio Research in April 2022, using an email invitation and online survey. In total, Sapio Research interviewed 11,000 consumers (representative by age and gender) in the US, UK,Canada, Germany, Austria, Italy, Bulgaria, Peru, Chile, and Brazil. The Bulgarian respondents in the poll numbered 1,000.