La Caixa reports first results from Sitges NFC trial

The first results of the NFC payments trial taking place in Sitges, Spain show that 60% of the participants have so far used their phone to make a payment, Benjamí Puigdevall, CEO of e-La Caixa, has told Spanish financial publication CincoDias.

The Mobile Shopping Sitges 2010 trial began on 27 May. It is led by mobile network operator Movistar, part of the Telefónica group, La Caixa and Visa and includes the participation of Gemalto, Giesecke & Devrient, Samsung, Ingenico and the Sitges city council. 1,500 customers of both Telefónica and banking group La Caixa are taking part in the trial along with 500 of the town’s merchants.

By late July, La Caixa expects 80% of consumers to have used their NFC phones, Puigdevall told CincoDias. To date, NFC payments have been made at 60% of the participating merchants and the average merchant has seen three NFC transactions at an average transaction value of €30.

75% of transactions have taken place during the working week with Saturdays seeing only 19% of transactions, says Puigdevall. 52% have taken place in supermarkets and 14% in restaurants with smaller transaction volumes taking place in a variety of other outlets such as textile shops, perfume retailers, shoe stores, tobacco shops and florists.

50% of the transactions have been conducted by consumers aged between 26 and 45 with a further 30% being conducted by those aged between 46 and 55.

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