In retail stores across the world, the sight of contactless payments by phone or by card has become commonplace. But more than 30 per cent of the world’s population are now considered digital shoppers and the online retail market was worth a staggering $768bn in the USA alone last year – and it’s a market that is expected to double in size by 2025.

Little more than two years ago, the ‘tap to pay’ culture – whether by card or by phone – was dominated by the younger end of the adult demographic. Today, accelerated by a global pandemic that that focussed on eliminating common touch points. it is ubiquitous and used across generations.

Around the world the number of people using QR code technology is rising exponentially. A rise initially triggered by the global pandemic has continued unabated. In America alone, the first year of the pandemic saw a 25 per cent rise in QR code usage to more than 65m users. That became 75m last year, will be 83m this year, and be touching 100m by 2025.