Filenews 9 October 2022 - by Theano Thiopoulou
Very few companies in the Eurozone offer cashback services or cash in-store and the majority of those who do not offer such services do not plan to do so in the future. The main reasons are the lack of knowledge about services and the expectation of low customer demand, as the ECB said in a report.
Cashback is the provision of cash by a trader. It is only available in conjunction with the purchase of goods or services and is offered only at the express request of the customer. On the other hand, cash in shop allows the consumer to withdraw cash from a trader, but, as the operation is not linked to the purchase of goods, it can be carried out separately.
In Cyprus, in July JCC announced the availability of cashback and it was posted on its website which companies offer cash withdrawals to customers from their cashiers. However, the data, both for Cyprus and at European level, are not very encouraging, as presented by the European Central Bank. Cash in shop is offered by very few companies (6%) at the level of the euro area. 94% of businesses in the retail sector responded that they do not offer cash-in-shop services. In Cyprus the percentage is only 3% and in Greece it is 6%. The countries that do not offer this service are Slovenia, Portugal, Austria, Latvia and Slovakia.
ECB data also show that the cashback has not taken off and only 11% of retailers say they provide the service. The largest availability of cashback services is in Belgium, Finland and Ireland, which all have a benefit of more than 40%, as reported by the ECB. In Cyprus the percentage is 5%, but the service was promoted only recently.
