In retail stores across the world, the sight of contactless payments by phone or by card has become commonplace. But more than 30 per cent of the world’s population are now considered digital shoppers and the online retail market was worth a staggering $768bn in the USA alone last year – and it’s a market that is expected to double in size by 2025.

Little more than two years ago, the ‘tap to pay’ culture – whether by card or by phone – was dominated by the younger end of the adult demographic. Today, accelerated by a global pandemic that that focussed on eliminating common touch points. it is ubiquitous and used across generations.

Around the world the number of people using QR code technology is rising exponentially. A rise initially triggered by the global pandemic has continued unabated. In America alone, the first year of the pandemic saw a 25 per cent rise in QR code usage to more than 65m users. That became 75m last year, will be 83m this year, and be touching 100m by 2025.

There was a marvellous movie back in the 80’s called “The Year of Living Dangerously”. It chronicled the struggles of a group of people trying to go about their lives during a period of civil unrest. The film’s title has since entered popular culture and language. Substitute ‘pandemic’ for unrest and the title might be appropriate for both of the last two years.

Digital wallets now account for some 27 per cent of in-store spending, 41 per cent of ecommerce and 46 per cent of mobile commerce transactions.

The average amount being withdrawn from a cash machine per visit had climbed to £80. However, closer reading of the article also showed that the number of visits per month had declined by 40 per cent and the total being withdrawn had fallen by a staggering £100m per day compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

The number of consumers using mobile wallet payments jumped by more than 50 per cent from 900m to 1.48bn in the pandemic timeframe – but it’s created an unstoppable force in payment terms.

QR code payments rose to staggering 47 per cent of digital wallet transactions in 2020!

In recent weeks and months some things have changed. The advent of the so-called ‘Pingdemic’ has led to many people deleting their track and trace app and seeking to avoid being ‘caught’ by the system. But it hasn’t actually harmed usage and acceptance of the QR code and its underlying technology. That has proven its case for a place in the world.

“…some 83 per cent of UK consumers now use contactless payments and that number doesn’t fall below 75 per cent for any region or age grouping.

It’s an unwritten rule of a successful technology – someone, somewhere, will try to corrupt it for their own purposes. QR code technology is closing in on 30 years of usage, but the Covid-19 pandemic has turned the technology from niche markets to mainstream consumer use and that inevitably attracts interest from the fraudsters.