German shoppers open to biometric payments

Currently one in three Germans (35%) use biometric identification for payment most often with fingerprints (70%), but facial recognition (44%), voice recognition (10%) and iris recognition (8%) are also popular.

The technology could mainly appear in unmanned, automated shops where for example facial recognition makes the shopping process is almost imperceptible. Such solutions are particularly popular among 18-39 year olds, 57% of whom would like to try them. The first pilots are already underway, where customers identify themselves by, for example, iris scanning.

Mastercard stresses that biometric payment systems are not only more convenient but also more secure.

Mobile payments are also gaining momentum: last year, 36% of Germans used a smartphone or smartwatch at least once to make a payment. This method of payment is particularly popular among young people, with 64% paying regularly by phone or a wearable.

Digital payment solutions are gaining general acceptance and contactless payments are now standard, used regularly by 69% of respondents, most often with a debit card, but increasingly also with smartphones and smartwatches. According to the research, 40% of respondents have decided to leave a shop without making a purchase or not to go in at all because they could have only used cash to pay.

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