ZAGREB, March 24, 2019 – More than 60% of Croatian businesses prefer cash payments, yet 77% expect mobile payments to prevail over the next ten years, according to a survey conducted by the British company LM Research for the Norwegian company Auka.
The findings were presented at the residence of the Norwegian Ambassador to Croatia, Astrid Versto.
LM Research interviewed 28,000 small and large businesses as well as restaurant and hotel companies throughout the European Union.
Restaurants and cafes in Croatia show the biggest interest in the introduction of mobile payments, while small shop owners and newsagents resist it the most, Auka founder and director Daniel Doederlein said.
About 70% of businesses in Croatia accept credit cards, whereas the European average is 78%, and a little over one-third in Croatia say they accept contactless payments by mobile phone such as Google Pay, which is a little over the European average of 32%, he added.
Among the businesses in Croatia that do not accept mobile payments, 45% say they will consider it in the next 12 months, while 37% are not sure they will do it.
Half the respondents in Croatia say they encounter no problems in accepting and handling cash, which remains the preferred payment method throughout the EU, Doederlein said.
However, 77% of Croatian businesses believe mobile payments will prevail over the next ten years, including contactless payments by mobile phone and other methods. At EU level, the same answer was given by 72% of the companies surveyed, which shows the trend is widely recognised, he added.
Sixty-two percent of the respondents in Croatia say the government’s political decisions impact the payment method their company accepts, which is important as the success of mobile payments in Croatia depends also on the government’s preparedness for technological change, Doederlein said.
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