The contactless payments revolution could save market stalls and high streets

Last updated: 07 November 2019

Contactless payment is booming, with £2.3 billion spent on ‘tap and go’ transactions in 2014, and 319 million contactless transactions in the UK last year alone. Now, street vendors, and market stalls in London are being urged to adopt contactless payments.

The London Mayor’s office wants to help ‘meet the demands of our ever-changing city’. This comes as part of the £20 million London Regeneration Fund established by City Hall. The fund aims to regenerate the capital’s high streets by fusing ground-breaking technology and innovation, with what makes up your local community, helping your local butcher or baker make the most of their business.

The benefits? Improved sales!

Back in 2014, the BBC turned a street of independent traders cashless for the day to test if shoppers and traders were ready to dump notes and coins. And the answer was overwhelming, yes! The results showed an increase in sales, with consumers reporting that they liked the convenience.

In 2013, stallholders at Covent Garden’s arts and craft market in central London saw sales shoot up after being equipped with mobile point-of-sale card readers. This meant they could accept debit card payments, previously restricted to cash-only. A definite way to maximize profits during the Christmas period! Alternatively, the fund may introduce select discounts for those shopping in markets, which are delivered directly to mobile devices.

This coincides with the increasing use of wearables for payments, set to reach $510 billion by 2020. These have many practical applications such as paying for food and drinks while you’re in a stadium, which helps to cut down queues, and improve the fan experience. Of course, you have Apple with Apple Pay, but there are others such as Barclays, Amex and Jawbone, all making it possible to use your smartwatch to pay. And, according to TechRadar Samsung’s next wearable will be equipped to use Samsung Pay. Payments giant MasterCard has also just given DigiSEq approval for a solution, which would allow consumers to buy any wearable and install their choice of payment applications. Thus, any wearable could become your wallet.

It seems the world is going contactless, with new technology providing the basis for any entrepreneur to start a business – from market stall to global market – mobile payments are on the up!

If you want to find out more about the mobile pay take over, tweet to us @Gemalto or leave us a comment below.

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