If we take a look at the recent history of UK payments, there are several key moments which have helped shape and transform the industry. The advent of Chip and PIN, and more recently the launch of contactless and Apple Pay allow merchants to offer faster, easier and more secure ways for their customers to pay. This has helped countless businesses across the UK maximise sales and improve the customer experience.
On Monday, 1st of September, the contactless limit rose to £30. Now that might not seem like a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But we think it will signal another major uptick in usage which should encourage even more merchants and PSPs to jump on board.
Growing numbers
The contactless initiative has been a long time in the making, but over the past 12-18 months a perfect storm of technology maturity, user awareness, and merchant and card issuer buy-in has seen adoption soar in the UK. Contactless spending has rocketed already this year, from £287m per month in January to £567m in June, according to the UK Cards Association. That’s £2.5bn spent in the first half of 2015 via contactless, already more than the £2.3bn which accounted for the whole of last year.
Its success is not hard to understand, given the raft of major high street names on board, including McDonald’s, Starbucks, Nandos, JD Weatherspoon, Greggs, Post Office and Waitrose. Major transport providers like Transport for London and Stagecoach are also signed up. What’s more, despite some scare stories in the press, fraud is extremely low – accounting for less than one penny for every £100 spent. The system is built on the same robust encryption as chip and PIN for extra security.
Why you should care
With the new £30 limit there are even more reasons for businesses to get on board with contactless. As the Cards Association claims, the average UK supermarket spend is £25, while payments in pubs, cinemas, dry cleaners and the like rarely go over £30 per transaction. That’s why more and more of the nation’s 69 million contactless card holders will be using ‘tap and pay’ going forward.
Here are just a few more benefits for businesses:
- Cut queues – especially important for high volume businesses like coffee shops, restaurants, convenience stores etc
- Improve the shopping experience – it will help encourage consumers to return
- Differentiate – mark your business out as one which puts the customer first
- Reduce queue drop outs – shorter queues means fewer frustrated customers
- Serve more people, make more money
- It’s easy to upgrade your machine – just ask your provider
- Improve security by handling less cash
- Make cost savings – again thanks to handling fewer coins and notes
These are just some of the reasons why our devices are designed to accept contactless payments. It really is a win-win for UK businesses.
