by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – STANDARD Bank has reported 458 percent increase in card-not-present transactions (CNP) at general merchandise stores over the past year.
The figures are for September 2019 to September 2020.
CNP is a payment card transaction made where the cardholder does not or cannot physically present the card for a merchant’s visual examination at the time that an order is given and payment effected.
Consumers shied away from cash and gravitated towards digital payment solutions during the national lockdown, according to statistics from Standard Bank’s card division.
Amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, people in South Africa were asked to stay at home between April and September 2020.
Over the six-month period, 20 percent of all credit card transactions by Standard Bank customers were done online – while 17 percent were contactless payments (against a 7 percent baseline pre-lockdown).
“We witnessed a dramatic shift in behaviour around payments during the lockdown period,” said Ethel Nyembe, Head of Card and Payments at Standard Bank.
“With concerns over COVID-19, consumers opted to make payments via online banking and our mobile app banking or by using the tap-to-pay functionality.”
Standard Bank’s data also showed that there was an 84 percent increase in the value of online spend at supermarkets and grocery stores year-on-year (y/y).
Unsurprisingly, the online purchasing of airline tickets decreased by 74 percent y/y with national and international air travel largely banned during the period.
With COVID-19 a threat for the foreseeable future, Standard Bank forecast the possibility of a more sustainable and permanent shift to contactless solutions going forward.
– CAJ News