12.5m extra locations to accept contactless payments by 2013

The number of locations that accept contactless payments is set to increase by over 12.5 million by the end of 2013, according to the latest data from IMS Research.

According to ‘The World Market for EFT-POS Terminals & Contactless Readers’, the number of contactless-enabled points of sale in existence will grow more than six times faster than the overall EFT-POS market.

“After a downward blip in late 2008 and the first half of 2009, the overall market is now returning to growth,” says John Devlin, IMS’ research director.  “The retail and hospitality sectors that have been hardest hit are showing signs that the market bottomed out earlier this year. Those companies that have managed the economic downturn well are starting to invest in new technologies rather than just replacing essential POS equipment”.

“Whilst the credit crunch has not completely gone away, confidence is now slowly returning and I am seeing tier 1 and 2 merchants now implementing new developments that had been temporarily shelved,” he added. “Contactless is a prime example of this.”

“As the market picks up it will be a case of merchants working harder to differentiate themselves from their competition,” Devlin concludes. “Accepting new and interesting means of payment, in the form of contactless cards, fobs and NFC/mobile payments, is a key part of this. In addition to greater customer convenience and an improved experience the merchants will also find that contactless benefits them with faster transaction speeds and improved footfall.”

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