The number of locations that accept contactless payments is set to increase by more than 12.5 million by the end of 2013, according to research from IMS Research. In its report on “The World Market for EFT-PoS Terminals & Contactless Readers,” IMS Research forecast the number of contactless-enabled points of sale (PoS) in existence will grow more than six times faster than the overall EFT-PoS market.
The number of locations that accept contactless payments is set to increase by more than 12.5 million by the end of 2013, according to research from IMS Research. In its report on “The World Market for EFT-PoS Terminals & Contactless Readers,” IMS Research forecast the number of contactless-enabled points of sale (PoS) in existence will grow more than six times faster than the overall EFT-PoS market.
Research Director John Devlin said, “After a downward blip in late 2008 and the first half of 2009, the overall market is now returning to growth. 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,” Devlin said. “Contactless is a prime example of this.”
Card vendors and banks are now issuing more and more contactless cards and consumer awareness is starting to grow in a number of countries. This in turn is leading to more demand from merchants for contactless-enabled EFT-PoS terminals. Contactless specialists, such as OTI and ViVOtech, are seeing greater demand for their contactless readers in a growing number of markets. Similarly dedicated secure card acceptance companies, such as Hypercom, Ingenico and VeriFone, are increasingly rolling out contactless across their product ranges.
Devlin said, “Retail and hospitality are recovering from the worst conditions experienced in a long time. As the market picks up it will be a case of merchants working harder to differentiate themselves from their competition. 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.”