Payment habits: the way people settle bills in store has changed


In usual circumstances, learned payment habits offer consumers a sense of normalcy and these can be difficult to change without a significant amount of time and resources. This is because people are very careful when dealing with money and they are wary about using new methods since they have concerns related to safety issues. For quite some time, the use of contactless cards in stores has been slow but steady. In 2018, it reached a 50% tipping point of all transactions. Nonetheless, the outbreak of the pandemic has accelerated adoption.

Experts are predicting that even after the lockdown, people will still keep using these innovative payment methods. An analyst advanced, “Habits are being changed and will be permanent for many cardholders”. He further argued that if another pandemic wave hits when we enter flu season in the fall, then no-touch settlements might become forever dominant when people are checking out. According to a survey, 66% of all UK transactions are now contactless. Additionally, 76% of customers in the country have revealed that even the pandemic ending would not change their contactless usage habits. Moreover, 66% stated that no-touch is now their primary in-store payment method and 21% had switched their primary card to one that is contactless-capable.


People are using contactless payments in-stores

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