Tap to Phone Redefines Contactless Commerce

Visa reports a 200% surge in Tap to Phone adoption, enabling merchants to accept contactless payments directly on NFC-enabled smartphones, with small businesses driving much of the growth.

Welcome to Today in Payments.
I’m your host, Patti Murphy, here with your daily dose of payments notes.

Today, I’m going to focus on Visa, which just reported a 200% increase worldwide in Tap to Phone adoption. This payment technology allows merchants to accept contactless payments directly on their NFC-enabled smartphones or tablets, without the need for a traditional payment terminal or other hardware.

The U.S., U.K., and Brazil saw the biggest jumps between fiscal years 2023 and 2024, with a combined growth rate of a whopping 234%, Visa reported.

This fast-growing contactless payment solution is proving particularly popular with SMBs, according to Visa. Nearly 30% of new sellers using the app are small businesses.

Tap to Phone has expanded Visa’s tap-to-pay capabilities by turning a smartphone into a point-of-sale device with the simple download of an app. Whether a merchant is setting up at a local farmer's market or a major retailer is equipping employees with a new tool to assist customers on the floor, Tap to Phone helps retailers of all sizes easily accept payments.

Visa, in a press release, provided some examples of how the technology helps small and new businesses. Ariel Davis, owner of The Brooklyn Teacup, an upcycling business in New York that gives new life to vintage china, says Tap to Phone technology helped her pivot to an open, in-person studio for customers. Notably absent from her compact space are a desk, a computer setup, or a register.

In the U.K., Reuthe’s evolved from an old woodland nursery into a thriving event space, featuring live music events and food festivals. One challenge in making the transition was how to process payments efficiently across the sprawling 11-acre site. Previously, transactions were limited to fixed payment points, but that wasn’t going to work in its new life. By adopting Tap to Phone, the farm was able to turn every staff member’s phone into a payment terminal.

The upward trend in Tap to Phone adoption is expected to continue through the next year, Visa said, as more consumers and businesses recognize the benefits of tap technology and more use cases emerge.

For example, last fall, Visa announced "Tap to Add Card," an added feature that enables consumers to add eligible credit or debit cards to their digital wallets simply by tapping a card to their smartphone. Since Tap to Add Card rolled out globally with Apple Pay in September, it has gained traction and enabled millions of tokens for more than 100 issuers, helping achieve higher authorization and fraud reduction rates. Visa cardholders are adding their cards to Apple Wallets faster than ever, with no need to manually input card details, Visa boasts.

Visa has also developed "Tap to Confirm," which allows consumers to quickly and securely authenticate high-value transfers. Then there’s "Tap to Send and Request Money," a feature that allows cardholders to tap their physical card credential to a device wallet on a friend’s phone to securely send and receive money.

Clearly, tapping to pay is the future of payments. Speaking for myself, I almost never dip a card into a reader anymore.

And Visa isn’t alone in coupling tap-to-pay with smartphones. Mastercard offers a similar capability called Tap on Phone, which is live in more than 110 markets. Tap on Phone empowers micro-merchants who need flexible and low-cost acceptance options, as well as queue-busting solutions for large retailers. It even allows passengers to tap for purchases in-flight on major airlines, Mastercard boasts.

But back to Visa. Here’s what Mark Nelsen, Global Head of Consumer Products at Visa, had to say about the success of Tap to Phone:

“Tap to Phone is a tech equalizer for businesses. Walk into some of the world’s largest retailers or go to your local farmer’s market, and they’re using this same technology to accept payments right on their phones. People love to tap, so we’re continuing to expand our tap capabilities to create the best payment experiences for people and businesses.”

Well, that’s it for today. Thanks for tuning in to Today in Payments. I’ll be back with more breaking payments news tomorrow.