How Will UK Consumers Respond To Contactless Technology?

Nov. 13, 2012 - PRLog -- If you live in the UK you probably received a new credit or debit card in the post earlier this year from your high street bank, even if your existing card wasn't due to expire. The reason card issuers sent out a renewal card to customers is because a new technology is being implemented across the country and this new method of payment involves radio frequencies emitted from your card to authorize a transaction.

There has been a large advertising campaign to help brand retailers promote the ability to make contactless payments at their stores and this includes hanging banners and soft drink cup designs which state 'Contactless is here'. Despite this effort it is going to take a while for people to fully understand what this new card is that they have received and adjust to the change from inserting their card and entering their pin-code.

Security was one of the main issues from the start and card issuers wanted to address this topic in order to ensure a smooth roll-out of the technology. Since contactless was not a security feature like Chip and PIN, no single governing body was to charge of promoting the functionality and therefore Visa and Mastercard have cooperated to raise awareness of this to the general public.

Merchant's and customers are beginning to understand the process of paying by 'waving' their card in front of the contactless reader and know that this option is only available for sales under £20. Card issuers have stated that if any transactions are unauthorized(i.e fraudulent) they will refund the charge for the customer, although random checks are carried out which request the card holder enter their pin number.

It is expected that in 2013 most of the population will have embraced this new method of payment due to the ease of use and drastic reduction in queues at shopping malls and restaurants. Many large chain stores such as Boots pharmacy have already implemented the contactless terminals but smaller businesses have been waiting for third party providers to acquire the technology since it is expensive to go to the acquiring banks directly.

PDQ machine manufacturers Ingenico® have recently unveiled their new catalog of contactless terminals which are streamlined and include the same static, bluetooth and mobile devices are their previous models. You can see a catalog of these card machines and some further stats about contactless by visiting this link: http://www.seymourdirect.com/contactless-payment

One further attraction for consumers to the contactless method of payment is the fact that you don't necessarily even have to have your contactless card with you. Now Barclaycard® are providing their customers with stick on tabs for the back of your mobile phone which means you can wave that over the terminal instead and Visa also have keyrings which also operate in this fashion and can be requested from certain high street banks.

It is safe to say that contactless has already appealed to the younger generation with a 'Wireless Festival' earlier this year in London which encouraged people to pay with contactless wristbands ad the future of card payments depends on their ability to evolve with this technology.