The Lecy NFC tag is read with the contactless payment gesture: holding up a phone. In France, nearly seven in ten card payments at the point of sale were contactless in 2023, and phone payments, up 137% in 2022 then 90% in 2023, already account for about one in ten in-store payments (Banque de France). 91% of French people aged 12 and over own a smartphone, 70% of those aged 70 and over (Crédoc, 2024), and over 95% of those smartphones read an NFC tag (GSMA, 2024). Ten years ago, NFC was a niche technology; payment made it an everyday gesture. This article looks at what that is worth today for a shop, device by device, age by age, and what Lecy plans for the case that remains.
The gesture already exists, and it is the majority
A loyalty programme fails when it asks for a new gesture. The tap is not one: it is the contactless payment movement, card or phone against the terminal. According to the Banque de France, nearly seven in ten card payments made at the point of sale in 2023 were contactless; in France as in most European countries, that gesture took hold even before the United States. The Lecy tag sits next to the terminal: the customer makes the gesture they have just made, a second time, for their point.
The phone is already out
Card payments made with a phone grew by 137% in 2022 and 90% in 2023, and now represent about 10% of in-store payments (Banque de France). For those customers, the tap does not even require taking the phone out: it is in their hand, against the terminal; it moves to the tag in the same movement. For the others, the phone is in their pocket, within reach, as it is for the loyalty card that never turns up.
iPhone: nothing to switch on
Since the iPhone XS, released in 2018, the iPhone reads NFC tags in the background, with no app: the phone shows a notification when held to the tag, and the customer opens it. There is nothing to switch on, nothing to set, nothing to install. Earlier models, increasingly rare, are the only case where the iPhone does not show the notification.
Android: on by default
On Android, NFC is on by default on the vast majority of devices sold in Europe, because it is what enables Google Pay and transport cards. A customer who pays with their phone therefore has NFC on. One who switched it off can switch it back on in two seconds, and generally has not switched it off.
Older customers, loyal customers
It is often assumed that the oldest customers, often the most loyal, will be held back. The numbers say otherwise: 70% of people aged 70 and over own a smartphone, eight points more than a year earlier (Crédoc, Baromètre du numérique 2024), and they pay contactless like everyone else, because it is simpler than typing a code. What blocks them is an app to install or a number to type in front of everyone; the tap, they already do. And they are the ones the lost stamp card annoyed the most.
"Knowing where to hold the device"
The NFC antenna is at the top of the iPhone and, depending on the model, in the centre or at the top of Android phones. In practice, the customer does what they do to pay: they hold the phone to the tag, and the notification appears. The first time, they look; the second, they no longer look. It is the same learning as contactless payment, and it is already done.
The rare case, and what is planned
There remain phones that do not read tags: the oldest ones, or an NFC switched off that the owner does not want to switch back on. GSMA estimates the share of compatible smartphones in France at over 95% in 2024; the case therefore exists, and it is rare. For it, the shopkeeper adds the point manually from their dashboard, in a few seconds. It is the only situation where the team intervenes, and it is logged in the back office as an exception. We did not put a backup QR code on the tag: a static QR code can be photographed and shared, and it would have reopened the door that proof of presence closes.
Frequently asked questions
Does the phone need to be unlocked?
The screen must be on, as when paying. The customer takes their phone out to pay, holds it to the tag, the notification appears, they open it.
Is an app needed, on iPhone or Android?
No. The tag opens a web page in the phone's browser. Nothing to download, nothing that stays installed.
And a customer without a smartphone?
The shopkeeper can add the point for them manually. It is the exception, logged, not the normal way of working.
Sources: Banque de France, "La numérisation des paiements : une tendance de fond en France et en Europe", 2024; Crédoc, Baromètre du numérique 2024; GSMA, 2024. Read next: customer side, hold up the phone, open the link.