At The Point Of Sale, There Is Less And Less Contact

November  23, 2021

Does paying with cash seem passe to you? How about swiping or inserting a credit or debit card? PYMNTS, which analyzes U.S. commerce trends, reports that contactless point-of-sale transactions have doubled since 2020.

The top reason behind this trend turns out not to be pandemic-related: it is simply convenience. Ease of use was the number one reason that all five age demographics PYMNTS surveyed (defined as seniors, baby boomers, and Gens X, Y, and Z) preferred contactless payment over paper money and other forms of digital payments. For seniors and baby boomers, the second most-cited reason was the widespread acceptance of the technology at points of sale. Speed was the second most-cited reason among Gen Xers. Among the reasons to pay this way, none of the age groups ranked fraud protection higher than fifth. PYMNTS found that two main reasons deter people from contactless payments – either they are simply at a location where the technology that facilitates these payments is unavailable, or they are at a point of sale without a contactless chip reader.³