Consumers spent €600 million using contactless payments in May
The impact of Covid-19 on how consumers are spending is recorded in the latest figures from the banking sector.
In May, consumers spent €600 million using contactless payments, the highest monthly figure on record.
The figures were compiled by Banking and Payments Federation Ireland.
Every day in May, more than €19 million was spent using contactless payments.
Consumers may be tapping slightly less because of the lockdown, but they are spending more.
In April, the amount people could spend using contactless payments increased from €30 to €50, so as a result the average spend per transaction is also up, more than €3.
Given the pandemic, it appears customers want to handle cash less.
More than 90% of consumers now use contactless with a quarter prefering using contactless when buying groceries.
Cashless society has been much talked about and it appears we are inching ever closer, but it remains some way off.
“The volume of contactless payments were down in May when compared to February before COVID-19 hit, however this must be seen in the context of the restrictions which only started to ease during the second half of May”, Brian Hayes, CEO of the BPFI, said.
“With the recent acceleration of the reopening roadmap and the resulting uplift which has been seen in retail and hospitality spending in particular, we would expect that contactless volumes should show a recovery in the months ahead as more restrictions are lifted,” he concluded.
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