More and more people in Viet Nam use contactless payment thanks to its convenience. — Photo Courtesy Visa Vietnam
Visa has recently announced that its contactless transactions in the first half of this year grew by more than 500 per cent year-on-year.
The total value of Visa contactless transactions increased more than 600 per cent over the same period.
Contactless payments, in which consumers simply tap their card or phone against the POS terminal to pay, have grown in popularity as consumers and merchants look for a fast, convenient and safe way to pay.
These benefits are more apparent than ever, as the COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges and merchants are looking for ways to serve their customers safely, the company said.
Dang Tuyet Dung, Visa Country Manager for Viet Nam and Laos, said: “As the Vietnamese economy continues to grow, the demand for faster, smarter methods of payment will increase, and contactless technology is just one of the ways in which we’re working to meet this need.”
At the end of June, the number of Visa cards that had recorded at least one contactless transaction within the past three months grew by nearly 300 per cent compared to June 2019.
Findings from the recent Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes study showed 37 per cent of Vietnamese consumers are now using contactless card payments, while 42 per cent are currently using mobile contactless payments. Of those that use contactless card payments, 85 per cent said that they use them at least once a week.
Contactless payments are already being used at some of Viet Nam’s biggest retailers and restaurant chains, including Lotte Mart, The Pizza Company and BHD, with promotional campaigns that seek to drive and normalise the use of digital payments.
Visa has provided support to Starbucks in Viet Nam to drive contactless activation, with Starbucks implementing swivel stands for terminals that give customers more control over transactions, and offering discounts to customers paying with Visa contactless. Half of all Visa transactions at Starbucks Vietnam are now contactless. Similarly, Visa has also partnered with Saigon Co-op to offer a range of exciting prizes to cardholders using this payment technology at their outlets.
“We’re incredibly glad to be working with some of the most well-loved businesses in Viet Nam to offer consumers an even easier way to pay. We look forward to continuing this work with other businesses in the future,” added Dung. — VNS