Serbia above the European average in the number and volume growth of contactless transactions, proving the market’s maturity for more modern, digital age-appropriate payment solutions.
New research from Mastercard supports the undeniable rise of contactless usage across Europe with a 97% increase in contactless transactions year-to-date. Year to date data shows that in August 2018, the number of contactless transactions in Europe increased by 45% on average, whereas Serbian consumers were tapping above that figure so the number of Mastercard contactless transactions increased by 57%. At the same time, the volume of Mastercard contactless transactions in Serbia saw an increase of 31%, again above the European average of 21%, underlining that contactless payments are well-adopted among the Serbian cardholders.
In more than 15 key European markets – including Denmark, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Russia –contactless in-store transactions are already above 50%. Transportation systems across Europe are one of the main areas fuelling the growth of contactless transactions as they enable faster transactions and greater security – in this segment too, Serbia is an au pair with European markets as Mastercard contactless payments were introduced into the public transportation system in Belgrade in January 2018, with steady growth in usage among Belgrade residents and visitors.
Jelena Ristić, Country Manager for Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, commented: „Once again we see that Serbian consumers value the fast, safe and convenient payment solutions such as Mastercard contactless technology. In the 10th year of its existence on the local market, contactless usage has increased by a massive 154% compared to the last year and without a doubt, we can say that Serbian cardholders are ready to take the next step toward modern, digital payment future and it is the joint task of the institutional and business sectors to facilitate that evolution.“
The recent data also shows that European countries are dramatically shifting their consumer behaviour to embrace contactless technology with some countries, such as Poland a.o., leading the way, where contactless transactions are over 80% year-to-date. Many European countries are embracing the cashless economy as demonstrated by people’s move away from cash and the rapid adoption of contactless technology. Mastercard reinforces this movement and establishes the acceptance of contactless as standard in the continent, as by 2020 all point-of-sale terminals in Europe will be contactless-enabled.
These results are clearly evidencing how Europe is leading the contactless revolution as consumers are looking for speedy and convenient payment methods they can trust. With the reported increased usage on contactless, comes familiarity and reassurance with more consumers now believing contactless technology is just as safe or more secure than traditional forms of payment.
“Europe is leading the way in contactless payments and what is consistent across the board, despite the economy and development status of each country, is the consumers’ adoption behaviour to embrace contactless technology. We’re increasingly seeing various European markets demonstrating swift adoptions of the technology as consumers increase their trust in the technology,” said Javier Perez, President Mastercard Europe.