The declining fortunes of the chunky wallet

 The rise of contactless cards could spell the end of traditional purses and wallets, sales figures suggest.’

According to shops, wallets with space for coins and notes have been overtaken by slim card-holders for the first time.

The trend, which applies to both men and, increasingly, women’s wallets comes as people carry less cash and spend more via contactless cards – almost £4billion in April alone, 150 per cent more than in the previous year.

The department stores John Lewis and Debenhams both said sales of cardonly wallets and purses had overtaken those with coin pouches for the first time this year. John Lewis said slim card wallet sales were growing twice as fast as chunkier purses while Debenhams said sales of card wallets were up by 100 per cent over 12 months.