More than 20,000 retailers could be using contactless payment terminals by the end of the year, Barclaycard Business' James MacDonald told retailers during a seminar at last week's Convenience Retailing Show.
He said the company planned to issue a million contactless cards in 2008, and expected the new cards - which speed up transactions as they do not require a PIN - to be in every purse and wallet by 2011.
The advantage to retailers would be shorter waiting times as well as an uplift in transaction values as customers' spend would not be limited by the cash in their pocket.
MacDonald added that the concept would benefit from "a massive amount of marketing" over the next 18 months.