Study: Czechs seventh in Europe when it comes to wearable payments

Photo: Dariusz Sankowski, Pixabay / CC0

The Czech Republic is seventh in Europe when it comes to using wearable transactions, such as contactless payment bracelets, watches and rings, suggests a survey carried out by Mastercard.

Photo: Dariusz Sankowski,  Pixabay / CC0
The list is topped by the Netherlands, with over 33 percent of all wearable transactions in Europe, followed by the United Kingdom with 18 percent and Switzerland with eight percent.

Globally, Australia tops the list of countries where most wearable payments are now being made. The global ten also includes Poland, Sweden, the United States, and Finland.

Overall, the Mastercard survey suggests that the volume of wearable transactions in Europe was 19.4 times higher than transaction volumes in North America.

Over the past 12 months, the volume of transactions in Europe made using wearable devices has seen an eightfold increase.

According to a recent survey carried out by Mastercard in the Czech Republic, the use of wearable payment technology is on the rise.

Some 12 percent of Czechs currently own a contactless payment bracelet, which is twice as many as in 2012. And the number of Czechs with a smartwatch increased from three percent in 2016 to current ten percent.

World-wide, every fifth adult uses a smart watch payment bracelet and it is estimated that by 2020, the global market with wearable payment technology will reach the value of CZK 30 billion.

The number of contactless payments is growing across the whole of Europe. Some 61% of all in-store transactions across the continent are now made using a contactless card or device, suggests the Mastercard survey, which is an increase of 23% since early 2018.

The acceptance of contactless payments in European retail stores now stands at 70%, up from 42% since early 2018.

The Czech Republic is also considered one of the leading countries in Europe for contactless card payments. Last year, Czechs carried out over one billion online payments, both in the Czech Republic and abroad.