“On Demand” Shopping Hasn’t Killed Cash

The online and “on-demand” shopping experience may appear to be taking over, but recent Census Bureau reports show this is only a small percentage of total retail sales. 

“According to the U.S. Census Bureau, e-commerce accounts for approximately 7 percent of total retail sales,” displayed in recent 2015 statistics posted by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. 

This report shows that from 2014 through 2015 this percentage only increased from 6.2 percent to 7 percent. 

How consumers shop impacts how they pay, and the majority of shopping still occurs at brick-and-mortar stores.

“While increased investment in online and ‘on-demand’ shopping channels portrays a somewhat gloomy outlook for cash, its impact on cash likely remains small compared to the shifting payment trends occurring in the brick-and-mortar space,” according to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. “Cash has withstood the advent of paper checks, credit and debit cards, and electronic transfers —all of which brought on predictions of an impending cashless society –and yet it is still used for a majority of small-dollar transactions."