The value of global contactless card transactions will reach $2.5 trillion in 2021, up from $1.7 trillion in 2020, and cards will continue to account for the largest share of total transaction value in 2021, at 79 percent, according to a new report from U.K.-based market research firm Juniper Research. The report also says that the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly accelerated an existing trend toward contactless card use and that these increases in value will continue beyond 2021.
The new study, called Contactless Payments: Trends, Opportunities and Market Forecasts 2021-2026, finds that the combination of accelerated card issuance and usage during the pandemic with a series of global transaction limit increases has unlocked significant growth potential for contactless payments and fundamentally changed the payments paradigm.
The report also notes that market growth has already been triggered by increased use of contactless cards in previously underdeveloped markets such as the U.S. and Germany, and that this shift will be permanent. In the U.S., transaction value will increase 136 percent between 2020 and 2021 as major U.S. retailers adopt contactless acceptance and consumers enjoy the added convenience of contactless card payments. As a result, the U.S. is expected to see further growth of nearly 300 percent over the next five years.
