Visa Europe records contactless growth across the continent

Some 3bn contactless transactions were made across Europe on Visa cards and payment-enabled devices in the year to 30 April 2016, growing from 143m transactions a month in April 2015 to 360m in April 2016.

VisaThe figures mean that nearly 140 contactless transactions took place every second and accounted for one in five of all Visa-processed, face-to-face payments. The average transaction value has also risen by 12% from €12.29 (US$13.74) to €13.83 (US$15.46).

“Appetite has grown among Europe’s largest merchants,” Visa Europe says. “This is especially the case with supermarkets. Carrefour, Lidl, Tesco and Poland’s Biedronka have all introduced or scaled up contactless in their stores. In the case of the latter, it has taken less than a year for Biedronka to move from being a cash-only chain to seeing over 50% of its transactions made using contactless.

Transport for London’s (TfL) adoption of contactless continues to be a huge success story, having passed 400m contactless journeys in less than 20 months. It was the fastest growing contactless merchant in Europe in 2015 and today, over 1m Visa contactless journeys are made every weekday on TfL services.”

“With mobile-based payment predicted to double by 2020, all Visa point of sale terminals in Europe are set to accept contactless payment by the same year and more merchants are embracing contactless every week,” the payment network adds.

Next: Visit the NFCW Expo to find new suppliers and solutions