CBA has seen contactless payment transactions linked to a debit or credit Mastercard almost triple, since the introduction of Apple Pay earlier this year.
In over 90 per cent of purchases contactless is now preferred, and the popularity of methods continues to rise compared with other payment options.
“The popularity growth among consumers is also changing the way businesses make and receive payments, with more choosing to go cashless,” said Sam Itzcovitz, General Manager of Commerce Solutions, Business Customer Solutions.
Across CBA’s merchant portfolio, over the past two years contactless payment transactions have seen a growth of 140 per cent[i].
The positive impacts of businesses going cashless
Tina Do, founder of Bar Pho, runs the popular Vietnamese restaurant in Sydney’s CBD, serving corporate clients and customers on-the-go with MSG-free meals, using natural and fresh ingredients for lunch, and recently launched a next-day delivery service.
In recent months, she has noticed that an increasing number of her customers are paying for their food using Tap & Pay or their digital wallets.
This was one of the reasons why she decided to take a 21st Century approach to her business and go cashless when opening her latest store, in Sydney CBD’s Barrack Place.
“I’ve seen so many people paying with phones in the past year,” she said.
While Tina ends up turning away a couple of customers out of every 200 by not taking cash, the time, cost, convenience and data benefits help her to run a much more efficient company, as far as she is concerned.
“It’s the way of the future,” she said. “A lot of people say to me ‘you might lose out on customers,’ but we haven’t felt it.”
Mr Itzcovitz said the average dollar amount that consumers are spending, within a single transaction reduced by 6 per cent from the past year.
“The continuing growth in the number of contactless purchases, coupled with the decreasing dollar amount people are spending in a single transaction, highlights that consumers are becoming more comfortable with Tap & Pay methods. Businesses are equally taking advantage of the speed, convenience and security that contactless offers when making or receiving payments,” he said.
Contactless payments – the way of the future
Australia has some of the highest volumes of contactless payments globally, and CBA is focused on delivering simpler and easier features to customers.
Mr Itzcovitz pointed to a to roll-out contactless payments acceptance across the whole Sydney transport network.
“Currently, Sydney commuters can tap on and off trains, in addition to ferries and light rail using their credit card or mobile device.”
CBA expects more growth later this year when Sydney’s public buses start accepting tap-and-go payments from bank-issued cards and digital wallets.
“The trial has the potential to be replicated to other transport networks across Australia and CBA is well positioned to do this.
“We are putting the power of mobile technology in the hands of even more Australians, giving them more convenient access to their finances whenever and wherever they are,” Mr Itzcovitz said.
[i] Additional numbers on contactless transactions across the merchants portfolio (comparison from January 2017-January 2019, and noting information is based on CBA insights extracted from our transactional volumes)
