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Data for today’s episode is provided by Mercator Advisory Group’s Viewpoint Titled: Contactless POS Payments Finally Ready For Prime Time
Contactless payments have crossed the tipping point:
- A customer walking into a big box store, a chain QSR, or an independent shop or restaurant has a better chance than not of being able to transact contactless
- By summer 2020, NRF reports that nearly 60% of merchants accepted contactless payments
- Entering 2021, its likely that at least 75% of US Merchants accept contactless payments
- According to Mercator Advisory Group, 79% of small businesses have seen an increase in contactless payments
- Originally, lack of POS terminal compatibility was contactless payments main obstacle
- The life cycle of POS terminal is 5-7 years, and though most terminals introduced 2015 and beyond had contactless – not all merchants turned it on.
Abstract of the Viewpoint
Several years in the making, contactless payment cards are finally arriving in large numbers at mailboxes throughout the U.S., as domestic cardholders catch up with the rest of the world. But contactless goes beyond plastic cards, with mobile apps providing another payment option for consumers to choose. While COVID-19 has accelerated contactless in 2020, payment providers and merchants now see that no-contact POS transactions can be a differentiating strategy to engage and expand their customer base beyond the pandemic.
