Card-Carrying Britain – Survey Finds Two Thirds of Shoppers Sticking With Physical Payments Cards

British shoppers refuse to be parted from physical payments cards, despite the huge popularity of digital services like Apple Pay and Google Pay, new figures from ad enabled payments company Zilch revealed.

The findings from a Zilch poll come as Zilch launches its first physical card, offering benefits for customers however they choose to pay.

Two thirds (66%) of consumers insist on carrying physical cards every day, rather than relying on their phones to make payments. A mere 1% say they never carry a credit or debit card.

The risk of being left with no way to pay if a phone’s battery runs flat or a device is lost or stolen, means even the youngest shoppers are relying on credit and debit cards. More than half (52%) of Gen Z consumers carry physical cards – which were first used in the UK in the 1960s – every day. Almost two thirds of them (63%) refuse to rely on digital payments alone, thinking it’s very important to have either cards or cash as a backup.

Older shoppers are even more committed to cards, with more than three quarters of baby boomers (77%) carrying physical cards every day.

Zilch has announced that it will launch its first-ever physical payments card as part of a wider strategic multi-year partnership with Visa, a global leader in digital payments. The new physical card will function just like Zilch’s virtual payment card, allowing customers to earn rewards and enjoy flexible repayment options with just a tap at the checkout. It will be available in different shades of the brand’s distinctive bright green.

One in seven UK working adults are already Zilch customers, with a virtual payment card stored in the Zilch app or their mobile wallets. To date, Zilch has processed over £4 billion of purchases – both online and in-store. 

Joe Zender, Chief Product Officer at Zilch, commented: “Digital payments have been transformational for shoppers, but consumers of every generation are holding onto their physical cards. People still love to know they can buy what they need even if their phone’s battery runs flat.  That’s why we’re giving people the option of having a new physical card, so they can get the full benefit of using Zilch whichever way they pay.”

Zilch’s new physical card will be available to existing customers from September 2025. The card will work securely and seamlessly across Visa’s extensive global network that reaches over 150 million merchant locations in 200+ countries and territories, providing trust, resilience and innovation to global money movement.