Contactless Payments Gain Ground on Big-Ticket Purchases

Contactless payments are making inroads into higher-value purchases in Ireland, with more consumers tapping their cards or phones for transactions that might once have prompted them to insert a card or use another payment method.

Data from Clover shows that contactless payments now account for nearly half of all transactions in Ireland valued between €50 and €100, up from 38% in 2024. For purchases over €100, the share has climbed to 35%, compared with 24% two years ago. Any hesitation consumers once had about paying for higher-priced items with a tap of a card or phone appears to be fading.

“This mirrors the experience that we’ve seen from contactless growth here in the U.S. and other regions where it’s been rolled out on a large scale,” said Don Apgar, Director of Merchant Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research. “Convenience is always top-of-mind for consumers, but so is security.”

Digital Wallets Fuel the Rise

The trend extends beyond Ireland. In the UK, the £100 limit on contactless card payments was scrapped in March, although the change applied only to physical cards. Mobile payments were already exempt from the cap, as phones and other devices typically use built-in security features such as PINs or biometrics to authenticate transactions.

“What the contactless numbers don’t show is how many of those transactions were initiated via digital wallets and not the cards themselves,” said Apgar. “While chip and PIN has been the gold standard for transaction security, unlocking your phone to use your digital wallet provides an even higher level of security with improved convenience as well. For the first time in payments, consumers don’t need to compromise transaction security for convenience, since contactless transactions deliver both.”

Cash Continues to Disappear

Contactless payments now account for 83% of all transactions in 2026, although they remain more common for smaller purchases. The average value of a non-contactless transaction was €203.09, compared with just €28.89 for contactless payments.

Cash, meanwhile, accounted for only 5% of transactions, even in settings traditionally associated with smaller purchases. In pubs, bars, and nightclubs, 90% of purchases are now made using contactless methods. At retail outlets, the share stands at four in five, with cash accounting for just 3.3% of transactions.

That shift is more pronounced in Ireland than in the U.S., where contactless methods account for 60% of transactions.