Speed and convenience top the list of contactless payment benefits that appeal to consumers, merchants and issuers according to a report from the US Smart Card Alliance.
The report - which profiles initiatives including MasterCard PayPass, ExpressPay from American Express, Bank of America's QuickWave and ExxonMobil Speedpass - looks at the merchant experience of contactless payments in the US.
Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance, says experience has shown that delivering benefits to merchants is essential to the success of new payment technologies.
"The good news is that the benefits of contactless payments for merchants are real and quantifiable, and the same holds true for consumers and issuers," says Vanderhoof.
The white paper reports that MasterCard PayPass cardholder transaction volumes increased 12% from the prior year, while the American Express ExpressPay pilot results showed that customer average transaction size increased 20-30% compared to cash spending at participating merchants.
American Express also reports that on average, ExpressPay transactions are 53% faster than paying with payment cards with no signature, and 63% faster than cash.