The rise in digital and contactless payments among consumers and merchants is likely to stick post-pandemic as preferences shift from cash to tap, according to fresh data from Amex.

For both businesses and consumers, contactless payments are no longer the secondary payment method, according to the Amex 2020 Digital Payments Trendex survey released Monday. Seventy percent of businesses surveyed said customers have requested touchless payments during the pandemic and 73% of merchants said they also prefer customers to pay with a card or app versus cash, according to the survey, which gathered responses from 400 businesses in the U.S. from July 30 to Aug. 7.

With social distancing measures still in place, businesses are looking to contactless payments to improve the health and safety of the checkout area. According to Amex, 84% of businesses say contactless payments are safer for personal health than using cash and swiping or inserting a card. Since the outbreak, 28% of merchants adopted or plan to adopt no-signature and no-pin payments to create a completely touch-free transaction process.

For many businesses, contactless payments will have staying power past the pandemic, with 81% of merchants saying they intend to make contactless payment a permanent option for customers. More than half of businesses surveyed, 52%, had offered touchless payment pre-COVID while 32% of merchants recently adopted or plan to adopt contactless due to the pandemic, the survey said.

In addition to driving a shift to contactless in-person payments, the pandemic has also pushed businesses into the e-commerce space. According to Amex, 41% of respondents said they adopted or plan to adopt new e-commerce solutions for their customers, especially for curbside pickup, in-store pickup and delivery. In fact, S&P Global Market Intelligence anticipates global e-commerce transaction volume this year to increase more than 23% from 2019, according to a recent report.

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