IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bdi/wpmisp/mip_042_23.html

Report on the payment attitudes of consumers in Italy: results from the ECB SPACE 2022 survey

Author

Listed:
  • Gabriele Coletti

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Alberto Di Iorio

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Emanuele Pimpini

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Giorgia Rocco

    (Bank of Italy)

Abstract

This report presents findings for Italy from the ‘Study on the payment attitudes of consumers in the euro area (SPACE) – 2022’, conducted by the European Central Bank between the end of 2021 and the first half of 2022. The primary aim of the report is to provide updated information on the prevailing trends in the use of payment methods in Italy. Additionally, where applicable and useful, the report compares Italy’s results with those of the euro area and with data from the previous run of the survey, conducted in 2019, and from the ‘Study on the use of cash by households in the euro area’ (SUCH), conducted in 2015-16. The data show that, while cash remains the dominant payment method at the Point of Sale (POS), especially for low-value purchases (up to €50), its overall usage has declined in comparison with the findings of the previous editions of the survey. In terms of value of transactions, non-cash payments have gained importance, accounting for more than half of total expenditures at POS. Cashless payments are increasing overall, supported also by an uptake in e-commerce purchases. Specifically, cards, besides being the greatest competitor of cash for POS transactions, continue to be the most used means of payment both in terms of number and value of transactions for online purchases.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriele Coletti & Alberto Di Iorio & Emanuele Pimpini & Giorgia Rocco, 2023. "Report on the payment attitudes of consumers in Italy: results from the ECB SPACE 2022 survey," Mercati, infrastrutture, sistemi di pagamento (Markets, Infrastructures, Payment Systems) 42, Bank of Italy, Directorate General for Markets and Payment System.
    • Handle: RePEc:bdi:wpmisp:mip_042_23
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/mercati-infrastrutture-e-sistemi-di-pagamento/approfondimenti/2023-042/N.42-MISP.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alberto Di Iorio & Giorgia Rocco, 2025. "Easier Said Than Done: Why Italians Pay in Cash While Preferring Cashless," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 21(3), pages 155-184, July.
    2. Esselink, Henk & Gijsel, Lola Hernandez-van, 2017. "The use of cash by households in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 201, European Central Bank.
    3. Giorgia Rocco, 2019. "The use of cash in Italy: evidence from the ECB Study on the use of cash by households," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 481, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    4. repec:bdi:wptemi:misp_021_22 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Guerino Ardizzi & Andrea Nobili & Giorgia Rocco, 2020. "A game changer in payment habits: evidence from daily data during a pandemic," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 591, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Krüger, Malte & Seitz, Franz, 2025. "Costs of means of payment for consumers: Literature review and some sensitivity analyses," IMFS Working Paper Series 218, Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability (IMFS).
    2. Rösl, Gerhard & Seitz, Franz, 2024. "Resilience and the cash infrastructure: The role of access, acceptance, availability, and affordability," Weidener Diskussionspapiere 93, University of Applied Sciences Amberg-Weiden (OTH).
    3. Krüger, Malte & Seitz, Franz, 2025. "Kosten von Zahlungsmitteln für Konsumenten: Literaturauswertung und Sensitivitätsanalysen," Weidener Diskussionspapiere 97, University of Applied Sciences Amberg-Weiden (OTH).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Francesco Berardini & Fabrizio Renzi, 2022. "Mind the Gap! The (unexpected) impact of COVID-19 pandemic on VAT revenue in Italy," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 669, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    2. Luca Baldo & Elisa Bonifacio & Marco Brandi & Michelina Lo Russo & Gianluca Maddaloni & Andrea Nobili & Giorgia Rocco & Gabriele Sene & Massimo Valentini, 2021. "Inside the black box: tools for understanding cash circulation," Mercati, infrastrutture, sistemi di pagamento (Markets, Infrastructures, Payment Systems) 7, Bank of Italy, Directorate General for Markets and Payment System.
    3. Tatjana Dahlhaus & Angelika Welte, 2024. "Payment habits during Covid-19: Evidence from high-frequency transaction data," IFC Bulletins chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Granular data: new horizons and challenges, volume 61, Bank for International Settlements.
    4. Guerino Ardizzi & Andrea Nobili & Giorgia Rocco, 2020. "A game changer in payment habits: evidence from daily data during a pandemic," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 591, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    5. Coletti Gabriele & Alberto Di Iorio & Emanuele Pimpini & Giorgia Rocco, 2022. "Report On The Payment Attitudes Of Consumers In Italy: Results From Ecb Surveys," Mercati, infrastrutture, sistemi di pagamento (Markets, Infrastructures, Payment Systems) 21, Bank of Italy, Directorate General for Markets and Payment System.
    6. repec:bdi:wptemi:misp_021_22 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Rösl, Gerhard & Seitz, Franz, 2022. "On the stabilizing role of cash for societies," IMFS Working Paper Series 167, Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability (IMFS).
    8. Bruna Bruno & Marisa Faggini, 2022. "The cashless man: do preferences matter?," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(5), pages 1525-1544, November.
    9. Emmanuelle Politronacci & Adeline Moret & David Bounie & Abel François, 2018. "Use of cash in France: the payment method of choice for low-value purchases," Quarterly selection of articles - Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 220, pages 1-9, November-.
    10. repec:bdi:wptemi:misp_023_22 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Fascione, Luisa & Oosterhek, Koen & Scheubel, Beatrice & Stracca, Livio & Wildmann, Nadya, 2024. "Keep calm, but watch the outliers: deposit flows in recent crisis episodes and beyond," Occasional Paper Series 361, European Central Bank.
    12. Kotkowski, Radoslaw & Polasik, Michal, 2021. "COVID-19 pandemic increases the divide between cash and cashless payment users in Europe," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    13. László Kajdi & István Nemecskó, 2020. "Regional Features of Card Payments in Hungary," Financial and Economic Review, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary), vol. 19(1), pages 65-89.
    14. Cronin, David, 2021. "Whither Cash in Payments?," Quarterly Bulletin Articles, Central Bank of Ireland, pages 64-87, January.
    15. Fujiki, Hiroshi, 2020. "Cash demand and financial literacy: A case study using Japanese survey data," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    16. Bratta, Barbara & Carta, Silvia & Di Caro, Paolo & Manzo, Marco & Orecchia, Carlo, 2025. "Welfare and equity impact of consumption tax policies: A micro-macro-economic approach applied to Italy," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 49(3).
    17. Rösl, Gerhard & Seitz, Franz, 2021. "Cash and crises: No surprises by the virus," IMFS Working Paper Series 150, Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability (IMFS).
    18. Francesco Flaviano Russo, 2020. "Cash Thresholds, Cash Expenditure and Tax Evasion," CSEF Working Papers 579, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    19. George Hondroyiannis & Dimitrios Papaoikonomou, 2018. "Fiscal structural reforms: the effect of card payments on vat revenue in the euro area," Working Papers 249, Bank of Greece.
    20. Giorgio Nuzzo & Stefano Piermattei, 2019. "Measuring financial inclusion in the main euro area countries: the role of electronic cards," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 504, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    21. repec:cam:camjip:2507 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Muñoz, Manuel A. & Soons, Oscar, 2023. "Public money as a store of value, heterogeneous beliefs, and banks: implications of CBDC," Working Paper Series 2801, European Central Bank.
    23. Justus Meyer & Federica Teppa, 2023. "Euro area consumers' payment behaviour and banking digitalisation," Working Papers 772, DNB.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bdi:wpmisp:mip_042_23. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bdigvit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.