Are British Consumers Scared Of Contactless Payments?

Keep calm and carry on? Not if you’re among the quarter of British consumers who admitted they think using contactless payments is “scary.”

With so much focus on all the recent technologies and services rolled out in the UK, it’s easy to assume that British consumers are enthusiastic about the payments their company is pioneering. However, according to a recent study by GoCompare, which included 2,000 British adults’ perceptions, only 6 percent of consumers have made a contactless payment with their cards, and only 3 percent have used their mobile phone to make a transaction, reports Finextra.

London businesses, especially, have played a significant role in the payments movement across Europe. The payments umbrella in the UK is large, encompassing businesses such as grocery stores, football clubs, London Transit and even school cafeterias, introducing new payment systems for British consumers. The London Transportation has claimed to be heavily considering ending cash payments on the London bus system and the Tube.

While many are wary of contactless transactions, it seems PayPal is a more popular non-bank alternative amongst the UK consumers. Eighty-six percent of Brits reported to having a PayPal account and 54 percent said they were regular account users.

Contrary to the constant rollout of new services and popular use of the new bus payments in the capital, the study reported that one-in-four people across Britain said they think using contactless payments is scary. More than half of the respondents even said they would feel sadness if future plans to transition into a cashless society were to come true.

The GoCompare study delved deeper, asking the consumers what they foresaw in payments 10 years from now. The majority of respondents listed cash as a primary method of payment, at 60 percent, followed by debit cards at 52 percent, and lastly only two-fifths of participants said they saw themselves using contactless payments by 2023. Thirty-six percent believed they would still by using credit cards to make payments, which was comparably low to the cash and debit expectations.

The high percentage of respondents who indicated that cash and debit cards would still be preferred in 10 years time begs the question: is the UK ready to be a cashless culture?

“Our research suggests that we’re not there yet. Most people think that there will always be a place for notes and coins and over half said that they will be very sad when we become a cashless society,” said John Miles, GoCompare’s business development director, to Finextra.

To read the full story at Finextra click here.