Contactless payment systems are approaching the tipping point of adoption in retail, according to a global study by US-based Aberdeen Group which found that over half (58%) of retailers plan to implement the technology within the next two years.
After numerous pilots and deployments in the last three years, continued pressure to improve the customer shopping experience is prompting retailers to adopt the technology, says the report, which is underwritten by ViVotech, MasterCard, Alphyra, Visa and Discover Financial Services.
All contactless technology standards - including the most prevalent ISO 14443 standard and alternative contactless technologies like carrier-based mobile - are headed for double-digit growth in 2007 and 2008, sates the report.
The survey of retailers from North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific found that around 30% have already adopted and deployed contactless payment systems. Within 24 months, 58% of all respondents indicated that they plan to implement contactless technology.
But despite the growth forecast, Aberdeen questions the return on investment of contactless technology for retailers. Sahir Anand, chief author and research analyst for Aberdeen's retail technology practice, says the survey found that 80% of retailers do not use the contactless transactional data in any business intelligence (BI) application.
"Even if the measurement is small, as long as it is timely, it can provide retailers with a road map of success or a direction to make changes to the field execution that helps improve the focus on ROI," says Anand.
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