World Payment Report prove what we’ve known for a while now; consumers no longer want to carry cash! It’s a sign that yet more festivals and events will inevitably join the cashless revolution, but they need to think carefully about what technology they choose.The 2014 report, conducted by Capgemini and RBS, reveals that mobile payments are set to rise by 60% in 2015. The findings back up The Payments Council’s February announcement that there will be 400 million fewer cash payments in 2015 compared to last year, but 700 million more non-cash transactions.These latest statistics show that cash is definitely no longer king and that the cashless society is well and truly here. These statistics are further proof that ‘cashless’ is more than simply a passing trend; it is a fundamental change in society and the way that people want to pay for goods and services.2015 is the time for event organizers to seriously consider how they will deploy cashless payment technology at their events; we need to listen to this wider consumer trend, but implement it into a way that works for the live industry and its stakeholders.Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) allows organizers to satisfy the growing consumer need for quick, easy and secure contactless payments in a live event environment, without the challenges credit card and mobile payments present.Mobile payments are suitable for mainstream retailers, but are not yet viable for live events and festivals, where lack of mobile signal and charging facilities continues to be challenging. Our RFID system is run on a closed-loop system, which means that event organizers can stay in control of the data. It’s this data – what people are spending where, their movement through an event site, what brands they interact with – which will prove extremely powerful for the future.Our cashless system experienced a twentyfold increase in 2014, with over four million transactions amounting to $50 million USD in on-site spending across global festivals including TomorrowWorld, Digital Dreams, Taste of London and MysteryLand USA. The system is proven to increase on-site revenue by up to 30% as a result of the greater efficiencies that cashless technology provides.]]>
