LONDON, 24 November -- Commidea, the UK’s leading card payment processing solution provider, has announced that one million contactless transactions with a total value of more than £4 million have been processed using Commidea solutions so far this year. This means that over 80% of contactless transactions in the UK are processed by Commidea.

As Commidea and industry numbers indicate, contactless payments are on the rise.  More consumers are ‘tapping’ their contactless cards at convenience retail and food outlets to pay for transactions under £15.  The transactions take less than half a second and eliminate the need for handling cash, therefore reducing queue times and helping to increase sales. 

In addition to the emerging trend of contactless payments, customer transaction volumes across Commidea’s systems as a whole have increased by 60% from this time last year.  An average of approximately eight million transactions are carried out each week using Commidea’s card payment processing systems online and at customer locations including Blockbuster, EAT, TGI FRiDAYS, Lush and Thomas Cook.

These statistics illustrate Commidea’s growing customer base and the continuing trend of consumers using contactless, credit and debit cards instead of cash for everyday transactions.

“Contactless payments are on the rise particularly in the convenience payment sector and the figures show Commidea’s technology is at the forefront of facilitating this trend,” said Ian Rutland, Director of Marketing and Communication at Commidea.  “We have always provided secure, easy-to-use technology for our customers across the retail and hospitality industry and this commitment continues in new payment types such as contactless. Our solutions help retailers to meet customer demand for convenience by accepting card payments for items ranging from smaller ‘impulse’ buys up to luxury and holiday purchases.”