In a statement, the company said about 41% of those it had surveyed were receptive to the use of "tap to phone" payments which would remove the need for PoS infrastructure.

The Visa Tap to Phone study was conducted by YouGov research between 16 to 20 July and covered 1012 adults over 18.

Visa said sellers could accept these payments directly on their Android NFC-enabled smartphones.

“Australian consumers have led the world in the adoption of contactless payments, and given the ubiquitous use of smartphones in our daily lives, we expect the new tap to phone form of payment will be a popular choice as people become more familiar with the technology,” said Julian Potter, Visa’s Group country manager for Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific.

“Beyond consumers enjoying secure and convenient payments, tap to phone provides a significant opportunity to expand digital payments acceptance to small and micro businesses, enabling these sellers to reach more customers and increase their sales.”

Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell said small businesses stood to benefit from using technology to facilitate contactless payments.

“Small businesses can reduce the costs associated with accepting digital payments by using tap to phone technology,” she said. “It allows small businesses to use their smartphones to accept contactless payments directly, without the need for a separate payment acceptance terminal.

“In these challenging times, it is encouraging to see new technologies emerging to ensure payments are faster, easier and cheaper for the small business user.”