The Covid-19 pandemic has precipitated a series of changes in our lives that have taken on particular significance in our purchasing and payment habits. We are living in a time of total redefinition of the concept of payment with the democratisation of the use of contactless technology and the growth of digital transactions, and the figures prove it.
In Europe, 78% of all transactions are already carried out using the contactless and the trend will continue if we consider the 73% of Europeans who say that the end of the pandemic will not change this habit.
Among contactless payment devices, the bulk of the European population (86%) prefers to use debit or credit cards, with 40% asking to replace their cards with ones that have contactless technology integrated.
The bulk of European consumers seem to be extremely satisfied with this technology, to the point that 64% mark contactless as their favourite form of payment.
Seen as more hygienic (81%), simple (85%) and safe (64%), the contactless payments have established themselves in recent months as an extremely credible alternative to cash (42% of Europeans admit to having reduced their use of cash and 17% have stopped using it altogether), especially when shopping in grocery shops (87%), retail shops (85%) and pharmacies (44%).
The impact of contactless payments via smartphone and wearables is also noteworthy. 28% of consumers on the old continent claim to use this technology on their smartphone, while 4% already do so via a wearable (smartwatch, bracelets, etc.).
Contactless in Portugal
Throughout 2020, contactless, present in 50% of national cards and 55% of payment terminals, has become a valuable aid for health and government authorities in the fight against the pandemic, leading the Bank of Portugal to increase the maximum amount per transaction on 25 March. contactless card from 20€ to 50€ giving rise to an unprecedented growth in the use of this technology in our country.
Between January and August 2020, contactless billing grew by an average of 18% (+7.2 p.p.), which shows a high rate of growth in a pandemic year. While 2019 was marked by a constant evolution in contactless billing, 2020 saw a growth peak between April and May which ushers in what can be called the era of democratisation of this technology among consumers.
From March to November this year, the weight of contactless in the total turnover of Portuguese businesses almost tripled from 13% to 35%, respectively. In year-on-year terms, November 2020 closed with a 4x increase compared to the same period in 2019.
This torrent of growth has also affected the average ticket (average value per payment). While in January 2020 this figure stood at 14.46€, by the end of September it was already at 20.67€. A note for March and April. During these months of compulsory confinement, there was a sharper increase in the average ticket due to a reduction in transactions and higher spending per shopping trip.
