Contactless owners value the convenience and ease of contactless payments, but suggest that the current relatively low acceptance levels in some markets is still preventing usage from becoming an everyday habit, a recent study has revealed.

The Contactless Barometer study made public by Visa Europe was carried out across the UK, Turkey and Poland. According to the survey, consumers foresee a contactless future across cards and mobile with 77 percent of polled contactless owners across all three markets stating that contactless technology would ultimately become more commonplace than cash as a payment method and 87 percent agreeing that contactless would be instrumental in bringing mobile contactless payments to market in the near future.

Moreover, the study has revealed that major retailer rollouts drive significant usage increase. Therefore, the proportion of contactless owners who cite the availability of contactless Point of Sale (PoS) terminals as a preventative to usage has increased (34 percent of UK contactless users vs. 23 percent the previous quarter).

Finally, the research has shown that banks and retailers hold the key to further increasing contactless awareness and they play an important role in stimulating consumer adoption of contactless payments. Communication received from the bank either before or after receipt of a contactless card plays a vital role in driving understanding and awareness of the new service among contactless cardholders (UK: 46 percent, Poland: 55 percent, Turkey: 38 percent), while external communications like TV and poster advertising is also cited by respondents as important (UK: 14 percent, Poland: 12 percent, Turkey: 15 percent). Collateral at the Point of Sale also plays its part in reminding consumers where they can use contactless payments (UK: 13 percent, Poland: 8 percent, Turkey 17 percent).