Customer’s Payment Preference for Premium Products in Multi-Brand Retail Stores in Bangalore

The present study examined customer payment preference for premium products among 190 consumers in multi-brand retail stores in Bangalore. The findings confirm that UPI has overtaken cash as the dominant payment method (60.5% overall use; 76.8% preference among digital users), while cash retains a durable minority share (30.0%). Convenience significantly and positively predicted payment preference (β = 0.491, p < .001), while perceived security did not (β = -0.015, p = .838), though the model explained only a modest share of variance (R² = 0.225), suggesting other unmeasured factors also contribute to preference formation. The availability of multiple payment options was weakly but significantly correlated with satisfaction (r = 0.236, p < .05), and age significantly differentiated payment behaviour by purchase value (F = 285.06, p < .001). These findings suggest that digital payment preference in this market is now driven primarily by speed and convenience rather than security considerations, which appear to function as a baseline expectation rather than an active decision driver among UPI-experienced consumers. Retailers should therefore prioritise UPI at checkout, retain a fully staffed cash option, invest in optimising the two dominant methods rather than expanding into lower-uptake options, and differentiate service by age — promoting self-service UPI checkout to younger shoppers while offering staff-assisted support to older customers. Overall, this study contributes to the growing body of literature on digital payment adoption and consumer behaviour by providing empirical evidence from an emerging urban market in India, focused specifically on premium-product purchases in multi-brand retail. The findings offer practical insights for retailers, banks, and payment providers seeking to design evidence-based payment strategies for the Bangalore market.

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