New Year, New Adviser

Of course, lockdowns forced businesses to streamline their digital solutions. Without the ability to shop in-person, consumers shopped online at record levels. Lockdowns also made it so that contactless payments became more ubiquitous when shopping in stores. It is estimated that contactless payments rose by 20% from 2017 to 2020. Essentially, the pandemic catalysed seven years’ worth of growth in about seven weeks.

It’s possible that if the pandemic hadn’t happened, new e-commerce developments wouldn’t have progressed as much as they did. Many individuals were uninterested in moving away from cash and toward digital. A sizeable portion of the population perhaps would have never gotten used to online shopping, never mind ordering their groceries online. The pandemic made this necessary and has permanently changed the behaviour and habits of many.

When it comes to the airborne nature of the virus, it is obvious why the popularity of contactless payments soared during the height of the pandemic. The ability to simply tap your card rather than touch the pin pad after numerous other people became not only preferred but expected. It gave customers a sense of peace knowing that businesses were taking the necessary steps to facilitate more hygienic interactions.

Contactless payments also speed up the purchasing process. On average, they are 7 seconds quicker than paying with a chip and pin and 15 seconds quicker than cash. This checkout speed is vital to the success of a business, as it impacts the shopper’s desire to return. Queues can build up, and no one wants to wait longer than necessary. Evidently, consumers value efficiency. To appease customers, retailers were allowed to offer a higher contactless payment limit of £100. This replaced the previous limit of £45. This worked to ease the experience and reduce friction.