BASINGSTOKE, U.K. -- The use of contactless payment and near-field communication (NFC) technology is expected to push digital payments worldwide to $3.66 trillion, up 20% from 2015, according to a recent study.
Tap-and-pay plastic cards, cellphones with NFC technology and e-commerce options on laptops and desktop devices are fueling the trend, reported Digital Transactions News, which cited a recent study from Juniper Research, Basingstoke, U.K.
Though laptop and desktop devices dominate e-commerce spending today, the research predicted smartphones and tablets will overtake those devices for share of purchases by 2019, with ongoing introductions of Apple Pay and Samsung Pay happening in more countries.
To prepare for increased smartphone payment at the store, Windsor Holden, head of forecasting and consultancy for Juniper, told CSP Daily News that retailers need to make sure their point-of-sale devices are upgraded to support contactless payment.
“Virtually all terminals are now shipping with contactless as a standard,” he said. “It’s then incumbent upon the retailers to ensure that contactless is switched on.”
He said doing so essentially allows consumers to pay by the mechanism of their choice, whether that’s with a card or a smartphone that has cards registered to it.
Juniper research also found that the number of consumers making NFC payments via their mobile handsets will reach 148 million this year, with Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple and Seoul, South Korea-based Samsung together accounting for nearly 70% of new customers.
The digital-payment industry has already received a strong stimulus from the launch of Apple Pay and Samsung Pay in select key markets. For example, following the arrival of Apple Pay in China earlier this year, consumers registered nearly 40 million payment cards to the service in 24 hours in mid-February, Juniper studies said.
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