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Cardless debit card payments gain ground at retail checkouts

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More debit card payments are now made at checkouts without a physical card—using a smartphone, smartwatch or other wearable—than by inserting a debit card into the payment terminal. The growing success of contactless payments with a smartphone or smartwatch appears to be driven mainly by the introduction of Apple Pay for iPhones and Google Pay for Android devices.

Hand holds a smartphone against a payment terminal for a contactless payment, while an employee holds the device in a professional environment.

Some banks also allow their customers to make contactless payments with a passive wearable(opens in new window) : a wearable accessory with an embedded contactless payment chip, such as a ring, bracelet or watch strap.

Total number of debit card payments above pre-pandemic levels

Since May, the monthly total number of debit card payments(opens in new window) at the point of sale has again shown a convincing upward trend. Each month was higher than the corresponding month in both 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2020, during the pandemic. More than 467 million debit card payments were recorded in July. Last year, July was the busiest month of the year for debit card payments, with 451 million transactions. In July 2019, consumers made 396 million debit card payments at checkouts, compared with 450 million in December 2019.

Monthly number of debit card payments from 2017 to 2021

One in five contactless payments is cardless

Since June, more contactless payments at the point of sale have been made with a smartphone, smartwatch or wearable (15% of all debit card payments) than by inserting a debit card into the payment terminal (14% of all debit card payments).
In July, 86% of all debit card payments were contactless. Almost one in five of these contactless payments(opens in new window) was made without a debit card, using a smartphone, smartwatch or wearable instead.

Share of cardless debit card payments from 2019 to 2021

At most Dutch payment terminals, customers are no longer required to insert their debit card, even when they exceed the cumulative security limit for contactless payments without a PIN. This limit is currently €100 for all consecutive debit card payments without a PIN combined. When customers exceed the cumulative limit, they only need to enter their PIN and no longer have to insert their debit card first. This has probably contributed to cardholders inserting their debit cards into payment terminals less often of their own accord.

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