According to recent statistics released by Banca d’Italia credit cards and similar electronic payment cards are present in more than 50% of Italians wallets and are unused, preferring cash at the check-out counter.
According to BankItalia, in 2006 Italians spent € 943,00 and paid by cash, approximately 48% of monthly expenditure. Electronic cash suffers slow growth and online shopping is estimated to be present in about 9% of households. Prepaid cards are used by 2,2% of families.