How Many Small Businesses Have Embraced Contactless Payments?

Contactless card payments are a quick and easy way to pay for goods and services. But even though the technology was once considered to be revolutionary today, virtually anyone can accept payments by contactless cards – this includes independent traders and small businesses.

With over a third of all payments now being made contactless, according to UK Finance, small businesses are opening themselves up to a world of retail success by offering contactless payment options. But just how many small businesses are offering contactless payments compared to their huge corporation rivals, why are more small businesses making the jump to contactless, and what contactless technologies are available for small businesses to take advantage of? Let’s discuss.

While the rise in contactless payments as a whole over the past few years is clear for all to see – especially from the kind of data mentioned above – there is not a lot of precise information that gives us insight into exactly how many small businesses offer contactless payment options to their customers.

However, what we do know is that contactless technology is more widely available and affordable than ever before, with many small businesses onboarding the technology to keep up with modern consumer demands.

As of 2022, about a quarter of small businesses have implemented more contactless payment options to keep up with consumer preferences, according to a survey by financial services company JP Morgan Chase. On top of this 82% of small and micro businesses said they accepted digital payment options, according to data released by Visa.

But even though contactless payments have steadily been on the rise since the technology was introduced to the masses back in the mid-2000s, the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a catalyst in many small businesses finally getting on board with the popular payment method.

In the first two months after the pandemic began in March 2020, British bank Natwest saw a 70% rise in small businesses registering to accept card payments for the first time. Combined with the knowledge that global searches for the term ‘contactless payments’ increased by 300% in the same time frame, there’s a very good possibility many of these small businesses wanted to take advantage of contactless payments for their own safety and the safety of their customers.

Speaking in 2020, Tyl by Natwest CEO Mike Elliff said: 

“We’re seeing an increasing number of small businesses begin to accept card and contactless payment for the first time, over recent months. We know that much of this current trend is driven by necessity related to the current crisis, such as the need to accept contactless payments for hygiene reasons, as well as businesses moving to offer delivery services or accepting orders and payment by phone to reduce physical contact.”

While much of the data in the survey mentioned above points to the fallout of the coronavirus as a key factor in more businesses opting to introduce contactless payment options – a time in which contactless was used less so for quickness and more over public health fears – there’s no denying that the continuous rise in contactless payments since that time is a clear indication of the tool’s popularity from a convenience and speed standpoint.

We may not have any concrete numbers on exactly how many small businesses are using contactless payment methods, but there are separate pieces of data we can observe side by side to give us a general idea of the scale of their use.

For example, over 99% of businesses in the UK are small-to-medium-sized businesses, according to the House of Commons Library, with 61% of the entirety of UK employment being made up of employees working for SMEs. For comparison, there are 8,000 large businesses (with more than 250 employees) operating in the UK, which represents the remaining 39% of jobs in the country. 

91.2% of all payments were made contactless in 2022, according to data from Barclays. While many of these payments will have been made at the retail stores of large companies, the sheer number of contactless payments compared with the massive number of small businesses means these businesses will still represent a huge share of the contactless market. Especially considering the prevalence and availability of contactless payment technology today.

Contactless card machines can now be found in a variety of forms to suit businesses and individuals of all sizes. So, no matter your trade, what you sell, or the services you provide, there will be a contactless card machine suited to you, so you can finally accept contactless payments from your customers and open yourself up to a much wider market. 

By partnering with a reliable and experienced contactless card machine provider, you’ll be in a fantastic position to offer your customers the choice to pay via contactless seamlessly and quickly, without technical hiccups or long delays in transferring funds.