When a study on payment behaviour in Germany begins with the fact that cash payments are declining and electronic payments are increasing, it is often not worth reading on. But this is not the case with the Bundesbank's latest analysis, where you should read between the lines.

Of course, it is anything but surprising that half of all transactions are still paid for in cash. Such trends do not change that quickly. Nor is it surprising that almost everyone carries a debit card. In most cases, this is the Girocard, the successor to the EC card.

However, the question of how people actually pay at the checkout is an interesting one. The trend is clear – people are increasingly turning to their smartphones, and less and less to their cards. In itself, this is just a technical question, as the underlying processes are the same. But it also shows that the reluctance to use mobile phones as a means of payment is decreasing. Either out of convenience, or because people consider the data and security risk to be lower than it was years ago.

The results of the study are remarkable when it comes to paying online. This is where PayPal's dominance shows up. Paypal is not only ahead when it comes to online purchases, but is also the best-known payment method in connection with digital wallets. If you add Visa and Mastercard, you can see the dominance of the United States. Anyone who has ever tried to pay for an online purchase with Giropay has often quickly returned to PayPal.

In the end, it's all about convenience. If European providers don't offer such convenience, the gap to American service providers will never close. Cash is different. It's uncomplicated and simple – but does that still count? People are no longer so sure, however, because although everyone wants to have the opportunity to pay with cash, fewer and fewer are doing so. So the trend is set. At some point, the time will come when shops no longer have cash registers because hardly anyone pays in cash any more. But that will take time.