Consumers to shirk contactless payments this Christmas
The much vaunted arrival of contactless payments is expected to pass right over the heads of the vast bulk of consumers this Christmas, according to fresh findings from ICM Research.
The pollsters found that confusion surrounding the hi-tech payments service is still proving to be a major turn-off for many coupled with a lack of compatible stores.
Less than half the 26 high street stores visited by ICM’s mystery shoppers offered the service and of those just three were actively touting it as a selling point.
Contactless payments have been heralded as the next big thing in shopping, ushering in a new era of reduced queuing time and the need to cart wads of cash around.
Nevertheless awareness of the tech is high with 80% of those surveyed knowing what their interviewer was talking about when broaching the topic and 18% were even able to whip out a contactless payment card.
A further 7% however were aware that the symbol on their plastic advertised contactless compatibility, contributing to the 32% of those holding a contactless payment card who have never actually used it.
David Perry of ICM’s financial research team says “It’s not surprising that Barclays is the best known contactless card provider since they are at the forefront of the game, but what is interesting is how widespread this awareness is amongst customers of other banks. This will help Barclays be widely viewed as a technology leader.”