Visa Europe’s 3 Billion Contactless Transactions Milestone

The most recent data from Visa Europe shows that contactless payments continue to heat up in the region.

Last July, Visa Europe reported that it hit 1 billion contactless transactions made in a year’s time. Now, that figure has tripled. The most up-to-date stats show that, as of the end of April, there were 3 billion contactless transactions made via Visa in Europe.

The data also showed that the number of contactless transactions grew from 143 million transactions in April 2015 to 360 million in April 2016, which accounts for roughly 140 contactless transactions per second, according to the report.

What this also means is that one in five Visa-processed transactions made in person at the point of sale are contactless. What the data also shows is that the average transaction has grown from €12.29 last April to €13.83 today.

“As with any success story, though, the real value is understanding what’s contributed to it and what those factors suggest for the future direction of travel. In the case of the surge to 3 billion, there are five key drivers,” Visa wrote in its recent report.

Those factors are:

• Appetite has grown among merchants, particularly supermarkets.
• Public transport: Over 1 million Visa contactless journeys are made every weekday on Transport for London services.
• New/different merchants adopting technology, driven by the growth in mPOS terminals.
• Prominence of NFC-capable payment services.
• Wearables: Apple Watch, Barclaycard’s bPay and CaixaBank’s Pulsera all have contactless payment options.

“Greater adoption by large merchants, coupled with relevant technology for smaller ones, investment in alternative ways to pay rooted in contactless technology and behavioral change driven by regular usage in familiar environments — these are the reasons why we stand at 3 billion transactions and counting today,” Visa concluded in its report.