It’s no secret that contactless payments are on the rise. A study by Visa showed that contactless payments have increased by 400% in the past year and that 78% of people who have used contactless cards would use them again. So what is it about contactless payments that makes them so appealing?
Transactions are encrypted and secure, so you don’t have to worry about compromised information. Contactless shopping is also perfect for busy moms and dads who want to get things done quickly. They can use their phones, watches, or other wearable devices to make contactless payments without having to rummage through their purses looking for cash or credit cards.
Because the customer journey is evolving, today’s shoppers want a quick and easy checkout process, which is why contactless payments have become so popular. Let’s quickly discuss what contactless shopping is and why it’s important, mobile wallet predictions for 2022, and then get straight into the biggest reasons why contactless shopping is the future of retail.
What is contactless shopping?
Contactless shopping is a broad term that describes different ways of shopping without touching money, entering PINs, and swiping cards. Soon, contactless payment will become so prevalent that it will virtually abolish the need for human contact during checkout or delivery. But let’s back up for a moment and discuss the first part of the definition.
The most recognizable contactless payment options are mobile wallets and credit cards with tap-to-pay chip technology. Mobile wallets are applications that let you scan and save all your credit cards, gift cards, loyalty cards, digital membership cards, coupons, tickets, and other types of digital passes in a single place. So when your customers come to your store, instead of looking through their purses during checkout, they can pull out their mobile wallets, choose a preferred payment method and complete the transaction in a matter of seconds.
How contactless shopping experience is expanding
On a slightly different note, there’s a brand-new emerging part of contactless shopping that includes drones, sidewalk robots that deliver items for curbside pickup, augmented reality, and self-checkout retail stores like Amazon Go. While it is true that this sounds more like a science fiction movie rather than reality, rest assured that these trends are already becoming massively popular worldwide.
Currently, different companies are testing delivery robots and drones, hoping to use this technology to transform the way we approach home deliveries. We’ve already seen Alphabet Inc’s drone delivery in action during the pandemic, proving that contactless home deliveries are possible.
And then we also have Amazon Go, an innovative shopping experience that lets you skip all lines and awkward interactions with cashiers and store employees. It is the ultimate example of contactless shopping since you don’t even need to scan your products. You download Amazon’s app, add a payment method, go to the store, pick up fresh food of choice, and simply walk away.
Amazon employed an innovative artificial intelligence-driven system that automatically scans all items, moves them from the shelves and transfers them to the customers’ shopping basket. Once they exit the store, the app will deduct the purchase amount from their account.
Now that we know how contactless shopping has already revolutionized both online and in-store experiences, let’s discuss some important predictions for 2022 and learn how it will impact store owners in the future.
7 benefits of using contactless payment technology
Contactless shopping is already transforming the traditional in-store experience because of the numerous benefits associated with it. Let’s dive deeper into these benefits and learn more about the many advantages of employing contact-free payments in your store.
1. Contactless shopping goes beyond monetary transactions
As we’ve briefly mentioned in the top section, contactless shopping doesn’t only include monetary transactions. You can also improve your loyalty and reward programs, allowing your customers to use digital membership cards, loyalty cards, gift cards or coupon codes stored in their mobile wallets.
It enables you to offer more attractive programs to customers and improve the retention rate. When you have a sale, send a notification to your customers’ mobile wallets. If you have an attractive loyalty program, urge your customers to load their new loyalty cards to their wallets and swipe them with each purchase. The options are endless.
PassKit is the best way to create different kinds of digital passes. Our easy-to-use editor lets you design jaw-dropping card designs and you can easily integrate our service with Apple Pay and Google Wallet.
If you want to create a punch card-based reward program, our Loopy Loyalty solution is a great way to do so. What’s great about it is that it doesn’t require POS integration and you can use it to create digital stamp cards. You just need to enter the conditions and the tool will do the rest of the work for you. Try Loopy Loyalty for free.
On the other hand, if you want something more complex to create different types of cards, then PassKit is the way to go. Design options are endless – you can add a barcode, QR code, and NFC to create an unforgettable experience for your customers. The design editor lets you choose different templates based on the card type and lets you use custom colors, logos, and images. Schedule a consultation with our experts to learn more about how PassKit can improve your business.
2. It’s fast and convenient
The biggest perks of contactless payments are safety, simplicity, speed, and convenience. Customers have plentiful transaction options at their disposal, such as Samsung Pay, Google Pay, and Apple Pay, to name a few.
Moreover, apps can process these types of payments in a mere second. When they go into a store, customers can get out their phone, point it towards the terminal and do the transaction. No PINs, no verifications, and they waste zero time finding the correct card. Customer experience is an important factor for every company, so employing contactless technology can only improve satisfaction and retention rates.
3. It’s cleaner and more hygienic
Contactless payments reduce contact with dirty surfaces, especially in the COVID-19 era. Physical touch has become a health risk, which is why store owners need to accommodate customers by offering safer payment options.
Digital payments allow your customers to use their devices instead of cash, and they don’t even have to touch the terminal for the payment to process. It also promotes social distance, so many retailers have already happily welcomed this digital experience.
4. Customers don’t have to worry about lost or stolen cards
Contactless payments also abolish virtually all safety concerns associated with traditional payment methods – lost and stolen credit cards, counterfeit money, identity theft, etc. Because customers store all payment data on their phones, their information will be safe as long as their phones are safe.
On top of that, all mobile wallet providers employ extensive and elaborate security measures. Even if customers lose their phones, their payment information would still be safe if they enable multi-factor authentication.
Bear in mind that the mobile wallet is only as secure as the provider of choice. If the selected company doesn’t employ appropriate security measures, customers’ information might get exposed in a data breach. That is why you must be careful when deciding who you want to do business with.
At PassKit, the security of our clients is our top priority, which is why we enforce robust cybersecurity measures to keep hackers at bay. We use industry-standard mechanisms for data transmission, ensuring that your customers’ information never falls into the wrong hands.
5. Customers can use different devices to make contactless payments
Having options and using a digital wallet across different device types results in an unsurpassed customer experience. Modern people are busy and live their lives on the go. The mere fact that they can use contactless payments with their phones and tablets, smartwatches, or other wearable devices makes their lives much easier.
The only thing they need to do is connect their devices and enable syncing, and they’ll no longer have to worry about bringing their wallet or cash with them. Awkward situations like rummaging through their pockets hoping to find some leftover money or getting the wrong credit card are things of the past.
6. It’s perfect for busy shoppers who want to get in and out quickly
This benefit goes hand-in-hand with the point we’ve made about how everyone lives on the go nowadays. If there’s something more annoying than forgetting the money, it’s waiting in never-ending lines at the favorite retailer. It wastes so much time and results in stress and dissatisfaction.
Contactless payments and cashier-less stores like Amazon Go are perfect examples of how digital transformations can positively impact one’s life and time. Your customers can get what they want, pay with a single click or tap, and move on with their life.
7. You can use contactless payments to buy virtually anything
Before the pandemic, contactless shopping was present but not as prevalent. Expectedly, not many stores offered this type of payment since it wasn’t that popular, which was a significant limitation for many contact-free payment enthusiasts.
However, when retailers have noticed an increase in the demand for contactless payment options, they’ve slowly started implementing them across different stores and locations. Before, you could only purchase a handful of items with your mobile wallet. Today, you can buy almost anything – groceries, clothes, everyday items, services, technology, and even cars.
Why contactless payment options will replace cards and cash in 2022
If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, hygiene should be a top priority even during shopping and paper bills are filled with germs, bacteria, and dirt.
More and more shoppers, as well as countries, are adopting the contactless payment trend. However, one issue that many customers find annoying about contactless buying is low spending limits.
Until recently, most payment processors only allowed spending up to $50 before the customer was prompted to enter a PIN. However, during COVID-19, this also changed – on average, the limit increased in 48 countries worldwide by 131%.
Not only that, but even countries who preferred cash in the past, such as Germany, have quickly adopted this digital transformation and displayed a noteworthy increase in contactless payments.
Before COVID-19, Germany only had around 35% of contactless transactions. Today, customers have completed over 50% of purchases using contactless payment technologies. It just shows that mobile wallets are on a great path to replacing the need for physical wallets completely.
Create the ultimate shopping experience with PassKit
Contactless payments are the way to go if you want to help your customers make quick and easy purchases. They are fast, convenient, and secure, making them the perfect choice for busy shoppers.
If you’re looking for a way to employ contactless shopping and improve your loyalty or reward programs, try PassKit. You can design amazing contactless passes, punch cards, membership cards, loyalty cards, and digital coupon codes with ease.
Try our design tool for free and see why some of the biggest names across the globe choose it as a way to connect with their customers.
