Contactless Transactions at Vending Machines Soar During COVID-10
A new study from Cantaloupe and Michigan State University brings additional support to the decline of paper payments and increase of contactless payments, either through mobile payment or tap to pay, even in formerly cash and coin heavy vending machines. Kevin McIntyre reports further in CStore Decisions:
“A study conducted by Cantaloupe and the Broad College of Business at Michigan State University revealed that contactless transactions at vending machines soared during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to cash payments. The data collected for the study analyzed a sample set of 160,000 Cantaloupe ePort cashless devices across various location segments.
The “Payments in Unattended Retail” study saw the overall share of cashless transactions increase dramatically from 51% in January 2020 to 62% in October 2021 compared to cash transactions, which decreased to from 49% to 38% in the same time period.”
There continues to be an increase in the adoption of contactless payment options, especially among younger consumers. This includes such technologies as tap to pay, mobile wallets, and mobile applications.
40% of Canadians Use Less Cash due to Pandemic – Going for Contactless Payments?
The results from the Cantaloupe/Michigan State study in the specific vending market show similar findings to Mercator’s findings overall and specifically in as reported in the Mercator Advisory Group North American PaymentsInsights report on digital and contactless payments use in Canada following the pandemic. That report showed 40% of Canadians reported using less cash as a direct result of the pandemic with 18% using no cash at all in a given week.
The move away from cash wasn’t unexpected, but there is increasing evidence that card swipes are also on the way to being replaced by either card or phone taps which should have a significant impact on vending and other self-service purchase locations, as Cantaloupe concludes:
“When we analyze our entire network of devices throughout the first half of 2022, we’re seeing contactless payment methods make up nearly half of all cashless transactions,” said Sean Feeney, CEO of Cantaloupe. “And these trends aren’t slowing down. The data indicates that by the end of 2022, more than two thirds of all transactions will be cashless, driven by consumers preferring to tap. For vending operators, this underlines the importance of offering contactless payment options if they want to increase revenue and remain competitive.”
Overview by Jordan Hirschfield, Director of the Prepaid Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
