Nearly one in eight card payments in the UK are now carried out via contactless, marking a surge during 2015, according to the UK Cards Association.
The organisation said there were one billion contactless payments in the UK last year, with more money being spent on them than in the past seven years combined at £7.75 billion.
The contactless limit was raised from £20 to £30 late in 2015, meaning consumers can use the technology for the average shop at a supermarket of £25.
In total, £622bn was spent on cards across 13.4 billion transactions in the UK last year.
Experts are now warning businesses, large and small, that they need to make the switch to contactless or risk losing customers. Worldpay said it expects contactless payments to "skyrocket over the next 12 months". The payments giant said businesses risk being "left behind" as shoppers grow more accustomed to the 'tap and go' lifestyle.
Dave Hobday, UK managing director of Worldpay, said: "The UK has been a trailblazer for contactless adoption, and we're seeing that play out today as the technology plants itself firmly in the mainstream. Raising the limit on contactless to £30 openeed to floodgates by broadening the opportunities for consumers to use technology, but it's far from the end of the story.
"Contactless cards may have paved the way for the enormous surge in 'tap and go' payments we're seeing today, but the next 12 months will be defined by how consumers take to paying for goods on their smartphones - especially with features such as High Value Contactless."
