Barclaycard reports higher in-store transactions and an increase in contactless payments

Barclaycard has reported an increase in payments last week as stores began to re-open with 6% growth in the value of transactions compared to the previous week and 8% growth in their volume.

In terms of payments taken in physical stores specifically, the value of transactions rose by 12%.

Businesses sized small and medium saw a 12% rise in the total volume of transactions, and a 9% increase in the total value processed.

As stores re-opened from 15 June, the company also highlighted that this week only saw a 12% rise in opened stores returning to trading compared to the week before.

Spending has also been rising steadily in the past few weeks.

The company said it has seen 60% growth in the number of Barclaycard customers who’ve returned to trading and taking payments by last week, compared to the first full week of April, further stressing  how much retail spending decreased greatly during the peak of the lockdown.

With many consumers now able to shop from non-essential retailers, the company also saw an increase in contactless transactions. Barclaycard Payments processed 10% more contactless transactions than the week before.

The new introduction of the £45 contactless limit in the UK, has resulted in almost 40.7 million contactless transactions above the previous limit of £30. The total value of these new contactless transactions above £30 is over £1.4 billion.

Rob Cameron, CEO of Barclaycard Payments, said: “It’s extremely heartening to witness the spike in activity that took place last week, and with some retailers still to open some or all of their stores, we expect sales volumes to continue to rise over the coming weeks.”