Visa Gauges Contactless Payments Progress 10 Years After Its Introduction

The U.K. is leading contactless payments adoptions 10 years after the technology first emerged, according to a new report from Visa.

The payments processing company’s annual Digital Payments report, released Friday (Sept. 1) and sent to PYMNTS, found that two-thirds of the 2,000 consumers surveyed in the U.K. say they have used contactless card technology to make a payment since the technology was first launched in September 2007. More than a third of U.K. card payments made in June of 2017 were contactless, researchers noted.

Unsurprisingly, millennial consumers are driving this trend. Visa found that three-quarters of shoppers age 18 to 35 have made a contactless payment, 11 percent more than in 2016. Meanwhile, 55 percent of payers over the age of 65 have made a contactless payment, an increase from the 52 percent of this age group that said the same last year.

Grocery stores have seen the highest contactless payment penetration, followed by fast food restaurants and commuter transport, researchers found. London sees the highest penetration of contactless payments, researchers found, followed by Wales.

“The introduction of contactless cards in the U.K. ten years ago was a watershed moment for consumers. Whether buying lunch, commuting without having to top-up, queuing at bars and festivals, or donating to charity, Brits have come to expect a painless payment experience,” said Visa U.K. and Ireland Managing Director Kevin Jenkins in a statement. “Yet there’s still room for the uptake of contactless to grow, particularly outside London and the South East.

“Our study shows the appetite for adopting new payment methods is greater than ever, and with mobile devices opening up myriad new ways to pay, the next ten years looks set to see contactless payments become and ever greater part of our day-to-day lives,” Jenkins added.

According to Visa’s survey, “comfort in using contactless“ is a key driver of adoption of the technology. The mobile device is key in this regard, with 57 percent of shoppers that say they have used contactless cards reporting that they have also used their mobile device to bank online, compared with just 35 percent for non-contactless payment users.

Researchers also concluded that contactless payment users are also twice as likely to have made a high-value purchase on their mobile device.