Contactless spend up 560% as £30 limit is introduced
Posted on in Business News
Two separate reports show contactless card usage has soared in last year
Payment values using these 'tap and go' cards are up 560% in the last year Mastercard says, while Barclaycard says they have trebled.
Just over half (57%) of the 2,000 customers surveyed by Barclaycard said they expect to increase their usage after the limit for a single contactless transaction rises from £20 to £30 on September 1st.
London continues to lead the way for contactless penetration in the UK, with 40% of eligible transactions made using a contactless system, up from 33% in 2014. This is largely accounted for by the increasing popularity of contactless travel on London's tubes, trains and buses.
Surprisingly, the data claims half of all contactless payments are made by those over 50 - and of this, 20 per cent are over 65.
Tami Hargreaves, head of contactless at Barclaycard, said: "Touch-and-go is fast becoming a favourite way to pay as both shoppers and retailers value the speed and ease it brings.
"Over the next year we expect the limit increase alongside the forthcoming launch of high value payments - where contactless transactions over £30 can be made using a mobile device combined with chip and pin authorisation - to drive this growth even further."
WGSN's head of market intelligence, Lorna Hall, said: "Shoppers love contactless because of the speed and convenience it offers. Our patience for waiting for anything is on the decline and abandoning purchases in store on sight of a slow moving queue is becoming just as much an issue for retailers as abandoned checkouts online. Retailers who don't have contactless need to realise that customers are becoming much more comfortable with trading off security for convenience and a better experience."
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