23 Jun Observing point-of-sale consumer payments in Barcelona
I’ve been examining, researching, and designing Point-of-Sale (POS) products in the Consumer Innovation space. I’ve observed that many interactions between merchants and customers during a sale still rely on traditional methods.
On a recent trip to Barcelona for instance, at the Santa Caterina Market, I noticed that cash transactions, manual receipts, and even handwritten orders are still common. This observation highlights that the sales process in many cases has not fully transitioned to digital.
According to a study by the Banco de España, cash usage in Spain still sits at around 60%. [As a point of comparison, according to the Federal Reserve 16% of American payments 2023 were cash based). The reliance on cash in Spain emphasizes the need for continued innovation in POS solutions to bridge the gap between traditional and digital payment methods. It also raises questions around what drives usage high usage of cash? Are there regulatory drivers? Cultural drivers?
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