Contactless payments increase as result of pandemic

The research by Barclaycard shows a big milestone for the technology was in April, when the UK limit was raised from £30 to £45, making even more transactions eligible for contactless payments. Since the introduction of the new limit, the average value of contactless transactions has jumped to £12.38, up 29% compared to the 2019 average of £9.60.

However, with many stores closed by the pandemic, the total volume of contactless payments fell by 11.8% compared to 2019. But with the higher average transaction value, the total transaction value actually rose by 7.0%.

Grocery stores saw a significant growth in contactless users, with payments up 29.4% year-on-year, with the sector benefitting from the £45 limit enabling more cardholders to pay for their shop using the technology. In addition, forecourts saw payments increase 24.7%.

The biggest day for contactless in 2020 was Saturday 19 December, the last Saturday before Christmas, which saw 71.9% more contactless spend than the daily average for the year.

Individually, the average contactless user made 141 contactless payments in 2020, worth a total of £1,640. The over-65s were most likely to embrace the technology for the first time, with the age-group seeing a 12% annual growth in the number of active users.

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