Turkey Sees Impressive Growth With Contactless Cards

We are living in a world where time has become the ultimate commodity. Consumers are constantly demanding products and innovations that require little thinking, minimal interaction and more importantly, less time. In the past few years, Turkish banks have worked hard on developing new solutions and easier services for cardholders. One of the fastest growing products is the contactless card.

The ability to save time on small payment transactions by using contactless payments has become a valuable trend in Turkey, a recent BKM (Interbank Card of Turkey) release states. The contactless card doesn’t require a PIN verification and allows for payments under 15 euro to be done quickly and easily. According to research conducted by BKM, it takes 26 seconds to complete a cash payment, 16 seconds for a credit card or debit payment, and only nine seconds for a contactless payment. The Turkish are not taking those spare 17 seconds for granted. 

Dr.Soner Canko, CEO of BKM, stated, “The number of contactless cards had reached to 6.3 million in 2011 from 3.4 million in 2010 and now it reached to 10.3 million in 2012 following 61 percent increase. 1.4 million of them are prepaid debit cards whereas remaining 8.9 million are credit cards. It is possible to make contactless payments with 16 percent of 54 million credit cards that we use today.”

BKM reports show that the number of contactless shopping transactions is booming in Turkey. The percentage of transactions made with debit cards, increased by 141 percent, going from 7.5 million euros in 2011 to 18.2 million euros in 2012. Credit card transactions have also impressively increased by 122 percent.

The report took a closer look and observed where the transactions were taking place. BKM discovered two industries were dominating. While 67 percent of the contactless shopping was done in supermarkets, another 14 percent was in dining. The average spent in shopping was 7 euros, while dining averaged 2 euros. BKM predicts that the sector that will benefit most in the future will be the travelling sector. Regardless of the sector these contactless cards become most abundant in, it seems promising that the popularity will continue to rapidly grow in Turkey.