More than one in four UK consumers are more likely to shop somewhere if it offers a greater range of — and more innovative — payment methods, a survey conducted for Sage Pay has revealed. Only 5% say they will try Apple Pay, however, even though 26% of UK businesses are currently considering offering the mobile payments service before it has been released in the country.

Some 22% of 1,000 consumers surveyed for the 2015 Payments Landscape Report are likely to adopt contactless payments this year and 31% of the 1,000 businesses surveyed support the service today, up from 26% a year ago. However, 30% of businesses say they do not believe offering a greater range of payment options will encourage customer loyalty.

Meanwhile, 70% of the businesses polled do believe that payment technology can improve the customer experience, with cash ranked in fifth place when it comes to the payment types businesses believe will be most popular in 2020, with debit/credit cards leading the way, followed by contactless, PayPal and mobile applications.

“Our research makes it clear the UK’s consumers have taken an affinity to the convenience and speed of cashless payment types,” says Sean Wilson, managing director of Sage Pay UK. “There are huge opportunities for businesses nationwide to take advantage of this but few are capitalising on them.

“Despite businesses agreeing that cash is dying, they aren’t reacting to the changing payments landscape quickly enough and, as a result, aren’t able to meet their customers’ demands. This report clearly shows that customers are ready and willing to be the guiding star, but only if companies are prepared and able to listen.

“Now is not the time for businesses to be treading water on payments technology. They need to invest to ensure they don’t follow outdated cash payments down the road to obscurity.”