Consumer Behavior
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May 7, 2025
Consumers are grabbing credit cards and digital wallets over cash these days and the trend indicates a significant shift toward cashless payments in self-service retail.
That’s a prime finding from a Cantaloupe’s «2025 Micropayment Trends Report,» that analyzed 2024 transaction data across vending machines, micro markets, amusement machines and smart stores.
The report revealed 96% of micro market transactions and 100% of smart store transactions were cashless in 2024, according to a press release on the findings, while 77% of vending transactions also utilized cashless methods.
«This year’s data confirms what we’ve been seeing across our network — the shift toward cashless and smart retail continues to accelerate,» Ravi Venkatesan, CEO of Cantaloupe, Inc., said in the release.
The report also found consumers spend significantly more per transaction at micro markets and smart stores compared to traditional vending machines. Despite inflation, self-service sales remained strong, with food and beverage vending exceeding $3.5 billion and micro market sales topping $1 billion in 2024. Contactless payment methods continue to gain popularity in these environments.