82 percent of small businesses shift toward digital payments, Visa finds

According to the Visa Back to Business Study, small businesses are rolling out new forms of in-store contactless payments.  The 82% increase of small businesses using contactless payment is up from the mere 20% in June 2020. And it is showing no signs of slowing down in 2021.

Since the pandemic, small businesses have shifted towards digitizing their operations. This includes selling products and services online (43%), accepting contactless payments (39%), targeted advertising on social media (38%), and digitizing business functions like backend payment operations (30%).

Additional findings of the study include:

• 65% of customers would prefer to use contactless payments as much as, or even more than, they are currently;
• 47% of consumers say they will not shop at a store that does not offer a contactless way to pay;
• more than three in five consumers (62%) are taking steps to keep their credit cards clean; using a disinfectant on their card is the top approach, at 31%.
• Millennials (73%) are more likely than Gen Xers (61%) and Boomers (50%) to have taken measures to keep their cards clean;
• 58% of baby boomer shoppers are more likely to value contactless payments than Gen Xers (48%) and Millennials (47%);
• 74% of SMBs expect consumers to continue wanting digital payments even after a vaccine is widely distributed.