Foresight

Nearly 40% of payments in Japan are now cashless

Cashless payments have increased by 3 percentage points compared to 2022.

Cashless payment methods (credit cards, transport cards, QR codes, debit cards) are on the rise in Japan.

According to a survey published on March 29 by the Japan Credit Association, cashless payment methods increased year-on-year, involving payments of 126,000 billion yen (around 771 billion euros).

These payment methods were popularized during the Covid pandemic. Today, they are up 12 percentage points in 2019 (28.8% of transactions).

The acceleration of cashless payments is a matter of public policy in Japan, with a stated government target of 40% of total transactions by 2025.

There are many challenges to the adoption of cashless payments. The use of digital payment methods frees up labor in a country where it is in short supply.

The evolution of payment infrastructures has also helped to popularize this practice: a large number of payment methods can now be managed by a single machine, as can the choice of payment methods in stores.

However, the increase in cashless payment methods also means an increase in fraud, which will amount to 54 billion yen (nearly 330 million euros) in 2023 alone.

Japan still lags behind its neighbors: 80% of payments are cashless in China and 90% in Korea. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the figure is also over 50%.