Look in your wallet: Do you have more than $50 cash on hand?

In Canada the answer will likely differ depending on whether you are a man, or woman.

A new poll by RBC/Shoppers Drug Mart found that 76 per cent of Canadian women typically carry $50 or less, compared to 66 per cent of men.

Men are also likely to use a bank machine more often, with 41 per cent saying they visit a bank machine at least twice a week, compared to 33 per cent of women. And another 28 per cent of women say they rarely or never draw cash, compared to 22 per cent of men.

So how are Canadian women paying for purchases, if not with cash?

"Canadians still prefer to have some cash on hand, but our survey suggests that women in particular are finding debit to be a more convenient way to pay for their day-to-day purchases," said Wayne Bossert, executive vice-president, Canadian Banking, RBC. "We are increasingly becoming a cashless society. Canadians are recognizing that debit is a convenient way to pay and now they can earn rewards points on debit purchases that translate into savings."

Rewards programs are very popular with both genders, with women more likely to take part in at least one program (89 per cent compared to 80 per cent).

Eighty three per cent of women said their rewards programs are important to them, which was ten percentage points higher than their male counterparts.

To whit, RBC and Shoppers Drug Mart are launching a co-branded bank account and debit card, that will provide customers with unlimited debit transactions and let them convert their RBC Rewards to Shoppers Optimum® Points.

Yet you do not have to be a large company to implement and effective rewards program.

In an in-depth article written for CanadaOne, Using Gift & Loyalty Card Programs to Grow your Business, Matthew Hunt outlined some interesting ways businesses could use loyalty cards to increase their customer base and maintain existing customers.

If you choose to use cards that are loaded with a monetary amount, Hunt notes that the key to success is to never let the cards run out.

Innovation can take many forms. If run a retail business and do not currently have a loyalty or rewards program in your business, it may be time to create one, even if you have to start with something simple.

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