The number of locations that accept contactless payments is set to increase by over 12.5 million by the end of 2013, according to a study by IMS Research
In its latest report, IMS forecasts that the number of contactless-enabled points of sale in existence will grow more than six times faster than the overall Eftpos market.
Research director, John Devlin, comments: "After a downward blip in late 2008 and the first half of 2009, the overall market is now returning to growth. The retail and hospitality sectors that have been hardest hit are showing signs that the market bottomed out earlier this year. Those companies that have managed the economic downturn well are starting to invest in new technologies rather than just replacing essential POS equipment."
He says that tier 1 and 2 merchants are now implementing new developments that had been temporarily shelved. "Contactless is a prime example of this."
He adds that contactless specialists, such as OTI and ViVOtech, are seeing greater demand for their readers in a growing number of markets, as banks and card vendors move to issue contactless chips as standard.