Britain is well on the way to becoming a cashless society, with contactless payments trebling in 2014 and cash transactions falling by 14% since 2009. But are independent retailers missing out by failing to adapt? DAN FLANAGAN of iCrossing reports

DIGITAL – now there’s a word Brightonians should be familiar with. Brighton is renowned as a hub for numerous digital enterprises, it is home to the UK’s largest digital festival and has a population growing more youthful every year.

So why aren’t Brighton’s smaller businesses taking to new technology with fervour?

Only around one in five independent stores currently take contactless, which puts Brighton’s small shops at a serious disadvantage to their chain-store competitors.

Chains are implementing this technology with haste, with the number of contactless terminals available in the UK increasing 22.7% during 2014.

But many shop owners are adamant their businesses are surviving on cash transactions and a few still display ‘cash only’ signs at their tills.

Yet as anyone will remind you, ATMs are surprisingly rare in the city’s shopping areas. Of the six cash machines available in North Laine, only two are free, whilst the nearest free ATM to the The Lanes is in Pavilion Gardens.

So with cash hard to find and consumers preferring to use cards, are Brighton’s independent stores missing out by being late to adopt contactless technology? Those that have adapted to the cash-free society were overwhelmingly positive.

Tamzine Miller of Vintage Magazine Co. in Kensington Gardens, said: “We try to encourage people to pay by contactless card and almost everybody that can pay by contactless does.”

Vintage Magazine Co. introduced a Barclaycard contactless terminal early in 2014 and since then, more and more micro-transactions are being made through.

Tamzine added: “It’s definitely useful and a lot cheaper for us.”

Joyce Chester, owner of Pen to Paper, was equally as enthusiastic. “The technology is taking off and more of our customers are now used to contactless sales,” she said.

“At the end of July 2014 about 14% of our card transactions were contactless. When I checked this month, I was amazed to see the figure is now up to 34%.”

“We are enthusiastic about contactless technology.

“It’s much faster than using chip and pin, which is really important for us when we have a queue of customers at the counter.”

Some businesses admit they had not seen significant growth in profits since upgrading their payments portfolio, but believed that the ease of transactions may be driving repeat custom and reducing the number of failed transactions.

“It wouldn’t necessarily make or break a sale,” one Brighton shopper confirmed to me, “but I like having the option.”

“Ultimately, if I had the choice to pay by contactless, I would.”

There’s nothing to suggest that small business owners are facing any immediate threat. But rest assured, the age of contactless payments is drawing ever closer. Small business owners in Brighton would do well to grasp the opportunity before it’s too late.