BERLIN, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Nearly half of German consumers, 44 percent surveyed, can imagine a life without cash, a survey published by the digital association Bitkom announced on Tuesday.
The survey was presented at a conference in Berlin together with the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV).
Already, a huge majority of Germans are using their mobile phones for making online purchases, but using them for cash-free payment in shops is still not common.
According to the survey, 30 percent of Germans have already paid via smartphone or smartwatch. This type of payment is most popular when shopping at the supermarket.
The biggest hurdles to shopping via smartphone or smartwatch (mobile) were security considerations (60 percent), followed by overly complicated operability (28 percent), according to the Bitkom survey.
"In Germany, cash still dominates today," said Bitkom president Achim Berg. Other European countries like Denmark would already follow a "no cash" motto.
"Digital forms of payment will soon become the norm for us as well," Berg added.
"Consumers will only accept new payment methods if they trust them and if they can pay easily at the same time. It is up to the business community to develop good models," BMJV minister Katarina Barley said.
