Average debit transaction size falling - slowly

One of the claims made for contactless payment technology is that it has encouraged merchants to accept smaller payments from consumers and this is hastening the move away from cash payments. The latest data supports this view but the trend is not very strong.

According to Reserve Bank debit card statistics released this week, consumers made 347 million debit card transactions in May, worth a total of A$18.2 billion. The average spend per transaction was $52.59.

In May last year, when there were 312 million debit card transactions, the average spend per transaction was $53.84.

And in May 2013, when there were 279.9 million debit card transactions, the average spend was $54.79.

About half of consumers with contactless cards are making contactless payments on a regular basis, so it reasonable to assume that contactless payments, which are quicker to process, are a factor in reducing the average spend per transaction.

Mike Ebstein of MWE Consulting said debit accounted for 65 per cent of the number of card payments in May - up from 64.9 per cent in April and 64.3 per cent in May last year.

Ebstein said that over the past five years the number of debit purchases per account had grown by 43.5 per cent, while the number of credit card purchases per account had increased by 28.9 per cent.