Ticketing And Soft POS Will Drive Contactless Payment Growth, a Forecast Says

Contactless payments are forecasted to surge 113% in value by 2029, reaching $15.7 trillion by 2029, up from $7.4 trillion this year, predicts a new report from Juniper Research.

Ticketing and soft point-of-sale applications will be significant drivers of this growth, United Kingdom-based Juniper says. “As access becomes more widespread, users increasingly expect contactless payment, creating a virtuous cycle of increasing use,” Juniper says.

Contactless ticketing is forecasted to see a 460% increase in total transaction value between now and 2029, the report says, reaching $154 billion globally. Juniper calls out growth in the United States as particularly strong, where multiple projects are rolling out.

Shift4 Payments Inc., for example, has multiple ticketing projects under way, including one for the San Diego FC in 2025, and is handling payment processing for the St. Louis Blues hockey team. Airlines, too, have the potential for even more ticketing payments options with an opportunity to expand alternative-payment method acceptance and foreign-currency conversion.

Juniper also calls out soft POS, so named because it relies on point-of-sale software rather than dedicated hardware for payment acceptance, as another major potential driver.

“The launch of soft POS systems, where contactless payments can be accepted using a compatible smartphone, is breaking down cost barriers to small and micro-merchants’ adoption of contactless payments, increasing acceptance overall,” Juniper says.  “Additionally, the study predicted that Apple’s recent announcement of Tap to Cash for person-to-person payments, and its extensive roll outs of Tap to Pay on iPhone will further accelerate this transaction growth.”

Tap to Pay on iPhone enables an iPhone with no dedicated payment hardware to accept contactless payments made with another iPhone or other device with a compatible contactless chip. A similar service is available for Android devices called Tap to Pay on Android for devices using the Google mobile operating system. Juniper suggests the upcoming Apple Tap to Cash for person-to-person payments could help, too.