Contactless payment market share during COVID-19 in Belgium 2020-2021

Belgian consumers increasingly adopted contactless payments during the coronavirus pandemic as the NFC market share more than doubled within two months. This was a significant increase for the country, especially since Belgium had one of the lowest contactless penetration rates in all of Europe in 2018. Although Belgium does offer support for both Google Pay (since 2017) and Apple Pay (since 2018), their use was limited. In early 2019, it has been estimated that Belgium counted 150,000 Apple Pay users and roughly 35,000 Google Pay users. COVID-19 changed Belgium’s payment behavior Belgium’s use of debit cards over cash grew as the country implemented several safety measures in response to the coronavirus. For instance, there was an increase of the payment limit on contactless cards, like in in other European countries. This limit was increased so people would avoid having to type in their PIN during a transaction. According to available figures, Belgian consumers continued to use contactless payments even after quarantine measures were lessened.Did COVID-19 have any influence on online shopping in Belgium? Although Belgium’s e-commerce market size increased for several years in a row, domestic sources claim it has accelerated during the lockdown. A survey conducted in May 2020 notably revealed that many Belgians did their first-ever online purchase while being confined at home. The group of first-time buyers was especially high among people aged 60 and over. For instance, 50 percent of 61-to-70-year-olds bought flowers online for the first time.

在新冠病毒大流行期间，比利时消费者对非接触式支付方式的采用率显著提升，NFC市场占有率在两个月内翻了一番。这对于该国而言，是一次巨大的增长，尤其是在比利时在2018年全欧洲接触式支付渗透率最低的背景下。尽管比利时自2017年起就支持Google Pay（自2018年起支持Apple Pay），但其使用范围仍然有限。截至2019年初，估计比利时拥有15万Apple Pay用户和大约3.5万Google Pay用户。COVID-19疫情改变了比利时的支付习惯。为了应对新冠病毒，比利时实施了多项安全措施，使得该国对借记卡的使用量超过了现金。例如，接触式卡片的支付限额在欧洲其他国家也有所提高，这一举措旨在让人们避免在交易过程中输入PIN码。根据现有数据，即使在隔离措施放宽后，比利时消费者仍然继续使用非接触式支付。COVID-19对比利时的在线购物有何影响？尽管比利时电子商务市场规模连续多年增长，但国内来源称，在封锁期间其增长速度有所加快。2020年5月进行的一项调查特别指出，许多比利时人在居家隔离期间完成了他们生平第一次的在线购物。其中，60岁及以上的首次购物者比例尤为突出，例如，61至70岁年龄段的50%的人首次在线购买了鲜花。