Research into the attitude of Belgian merchants towards electronic payments by their customers

The digitalisation of the economy continues to evolve and affects almost all aspects of our daily lives, including the way we pay. Monitoring changes in the payments landscape is high on the ECB’s agenda. Ensuring consumers’ freedom to choose how they pay, whether in cash or digitally, is a crucial aspect of the Eurosystem’s retail payments strategy and the Cash 2030 strategy. Since 2019, the ECB has been mapping the payment preferences and habits of citizens in the euro area through its biennial SPACE survey (Study on the Payment Attitudes of Consumers in the Euro area). It shows that, while cash is still the most widely used means of payment at points of sale, digital payments are on the rise (European Central Bank, 2022). The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated this process even further and has boosted the adoption of contactless and mobile payments in many countries, including Belgium