Contactless payment technology is migrating from the plastic card to high street jewellery and watch brands under deals agreed by Barclays with DCK Group and Tappy Technologies.
First introduced in 2015, Barclaycard's bPay’s proprietary range - which comprises a wristband, fob, sticker and loop - has recorded a £6.6m spend across 1.1m transactions.
The bank has already struck a number of deals in the wearable market, embedding bPay within fashion jewellery at retail clothing chain Top Shop, in mobile phone cases and weaved into jackets from Scottish knitwear brand Lyle & Scott .
Under the first of the new deals, DCK Group will add the bPay chip to its on-trend range of ‘Tutch’ jewellery offered in some of the UK’s leading high street retailers - including Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins. DCK currently has relationships in place with 15 retailers in 33 countries and sources 60 million pieces of jewellery each year.
The second is with Tappy Technologies Limited - which transforms traditional timepieces from a number of fashion brands into a wearable contactless payment device.
Tami Hargreaves, commercial director, digital consumer payments at Barclaycard says full details on the products to have contactless included, the retail stores and price ranges will be confirmed in due course.
“Thanks to the huge growth we are seeing in contactless payments, consumers are looking for even more convenience when it comes to paying and these partnerships show how the worlds of fashion and technology can combine to provide consumers with quick, easy and convenient ways of making secure payments for £30 and under,” she says.