Contactless card transactions now account for one in 10 card payments, the first time the milestone has been passed, the latest figures from The UK Cards Association show.
There were 120.5 million contactless card payments in October in the UK, meaning that 10.3 per cent of all card transactions were made using contactless. This has risen from just 3.7 per cent a year ago.
A total of £929.8m was spent using contactless cards in October. The average value of a contactless payment is £7.72, up from £7.35 in September when the limit for a single payment rose to £30.
Overall spending on debit and credit cards rose by 0.9 per cent in October to reach £53.2 billion. There were a total of 1.16 billion card transactions in the month.
Richard Koch, Head of Policy at The UK Cards Association, said:
"With one in 10 card payments now contactless, it’s clearly the preferred way to pay for millions of consumers. The rise in the contactless limit to £30 earlier this year means there are now even more opportunities to make a fast, easy and secure contactless payment.
| |
Total Spending |
(£ billions) |
Annual growth rates for spending |
(%) |
Number of purchases |
(Millions) |
| |
Oct 2015 |
Oct 2014 |
Oct 2015 |
Oct 2014 |
Oct 2015 |
Oct 2014 |
| All payment cards |
53.2 |
48.6 |
8.5 |
7.8 |
1,163 |
1,031 |
| Of which online |
11.7 |
10.3 |
14.0% |
- |
137 |
112 |
| Debit cards |
37.7 |
34.3 |
9.1% |
8.4% |
890 |
790 |
| Credit cards |
15.6 |
14.4 |
7.1% |
6.3% |
273 |
240 |
Spending by sector
- Retail sector spending increased by £169 million to £24.8 billion in October, driven by food and drink sales.
- Photographic studios, concerts and entertainers and cinema theatre and dance recorded substantial rises in spending in October.
- The debit and credit card share of total retail sales was a record 78.6 per cent in October.