Nearly 250mn Credit or Debit Cards to be Used for Contactless Payment Next Year, Juniper Finds

Hampshire, UK – 19th November 2013: A new report from Juniper Research has found that 249mn cards will be used for contactless payments next year, driven by the global migration to EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa) standards-based CHIP & PIN and rising contactless infrastructure at the Point of Sale (POS).

According to the report, Contactless Payment Cards: Market Prospects 2013-2018, growth in usage will initially be driven by early adopter markets such as Australia, Canada, Poland and the UK. In the medium term, user numbers will be enhanced by substantial takeup in the US following the mandated transition from magnetic-stripe cards.

The report observed that growth in the UK had been bolstered by ticketing as well as retail usage, with more than 3.5mn London bus journeys paid for via contactless payment cards since November 2012. It also highlighted the strong retailer proposition offered by contactless, with faster throughput at checkout, reduced cash handling and increased customer retention allied to an opportunity to use contactless as a mechanism for greater consumer engagement in the form of loyalty cards.

'Early Stage in the Consumer Contactless Journey'
However, the report cautioned that despite recent deployments, contactless POS terminals still accounted for a small minority of the total in nearly all markets, meaning that opportunities for usage were still severely constrained. According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, 'We’re still at a comparatively early stage in the consumer contactless journey. Awareness of – and confidence in - the technology needs to increase substantially before we move to true mass adoption.'
 
Other findings from the report include:

•    Growth is being fuelled by increased contactless transaction limits in key markets
•    Where multiple contactless cards are presented in a wallet at a card reader, it is possible for the wrong card to be charged

The Contactless ~ Pay Your Cards Right whitepaper is available to download from the Juniper website together with further details of the full report and the attendant Interactive Forecast Excel, which enables clients to interrogate the assumptions behind Juniper’s forecasts and create alternative future outputs.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

For further details please contact Andrew Moon, Press Relations
T: +44(0)1256 830001
E: andrew.moon@juniperresearch.com