The Dutch contactless card market is on the rise with most consumers now fully aware of the presence of contactless cards in the market
Between 2014 and 2015 the proportion of consumers who have a contactless card and use it increased by more than 21 percentage points. While card holding rapidly increased over the last few years, the main challenge for the industry remains still relatively low usage by contactless card holders. Based on the Verdict Financial Consumer Survey, the share of Dutch consumers who have a contactless card but don’t use it increased by 9 percentage points in 2015. Also, 8% of Dutch consumers had never heard of contactless cards (compared to 3% in the UK).
The survey results show that progress in the contactless cards market has not occurred across the board and Dutch payment service providers should further develop acceptance infrastructure while at the same time stepping un effort to raise consumers’ and merchant awareness of the benefits of contactless cards.
Contactless technology is generally perceived positively by the Dutch consumers, though security remains a major concern. More than 54% of Dutch consumers are concerned about unauthorized use of their contactless cards if they are lost, , which is the equivalent to 66% in the UK market. This implies that providers should include and highlight security features (e.g. card locking via online and mobile platforms) in their value proposition in order to improve card holder attitudes.
Overall, 71% of Dutch contactless card holders reported a positive experience with contactless technology. The progress in contactless card acceptance at merchant outlets, however, needs to be accompanied by increasing investment in merchants’ training and awareness of the technology. In 2015, similar to the UK, 15% of Dutch consumers, would have used their contactless cards but either did not know where to do so or retail staff did not know how the technology worked.
Source: Cards International
www.cardsinternational.com