Reasons to Read

We explore the adoption and evolution of contactless and contact-light technologies at various stages of the shopping journey, including ordering, checkout, payment and delivery.

With the Covid-19 pandemic fueling the development of such technologies—due to heightened consumer sensitivity to safety and out of necessity during temporary store shutdowns—retailers are likely to introduce more innovations to remove physical contact in transactions over the long term.

We answer two key questions:

• Why do we want contactless shopping and fulfillment?
• What does “contactless” mean?

This report then discusses the following technologies:

• Contactless menus and ordering in food-service businesses
• Self-checkout
• Proximity payments, NFC chips and other contact-light payment methods
• QR codes
• Contactless fulfillment—including curbside pickup services, delivery towers, food-delivery apps and autonomous vehicles

Click here to read more of our reports on retail technology.