Apple Pay spurs contactless growth in Australia

A report suggests that contactless payment adoption in Australia has increased, driven in part by a rise in Apple Pay use in the country.

According to Roy Morgan:

Data from the Roy Morgan Digital Payments Report shows a sharp increase in use of non-bank contactless mobile payment services compared to a year ago.

A total of 10.8% of Australians now use non-bank contactless mobile payment services such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, up from 7.1% a year ago. Apple Pay is now used by 6.5% (up from 4.1%) and Google Pay is now used by 4.1% (up from 3.6%). Samsung Pay was unchanged at 1%.

As evident in the figures, Apple Pay has seen a fairly significant increase of 2.4%, Google Pay also enjoying a smaller rise in uptake. As a result, contactless adoption in the country appears to have surpassed 10%, likely driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has placed more of an emphasis on contactless payments. CEO of Roy Morgan Michele Levine stated:

COVID-19 has put personal hygiene front and centre for Australians and this includes the way we pay for goods and services. Many retailers are requesting contactless payment be used rather than handling cash to reduce the opportunities for passing on COVID-19,"

"However even before COVID-19 came to Australia and changed the way we live, the use of contactless mobile payment services was rapidly increasing. For many people this means 'tap-and-pay' with a bank-issued card, but more than one in ten Australians (10.8%) now use one of the contactless payment services offered by big tech companies Apple, Google or Samsung.

Recently, Westpac became the last of Australia's four largest banks to offer Apple Pay support to its customers. The rollout came ahead of schedule, in part driven by a greater need for contactless payment due to COVID-19.

You can read the full report here.