retail week-co op response
The Co-operative to roll out contactless payment
14 July, 2010
By Lisa Berwin
The Co-operative is set to become the first major grocery retailer to roll out contactless payment in its stores.
The roll out will, in partnership with Barclaycard, will initially extend to 100 Co-operative food stores next year. If the trial is successful it could be rolled out to most of its stores by 2012.
The Co-operative Group's commercial director for food retail Sean Toal said: "This is a great opportunity for The Co-operative to work in partnership with Barclaycard to become the first major food retailer in the UK to roll-out this unique payment method. It has received an excellent reception from both customers and retailers where it has been launched overseas and ideal for our store portfolio."
Contactless payment, which is used for transactions of £15 or less, is already commonplace in the US and Asia. There are now over nine million contactless enabled cards in circulation in the UK.
READER'S COMMENTS (1)
Terry Hunter, Managing Director, 20:20 Technology
15-Jul-2010 2:50pm
Hopefully the trial the Co-operative Group is conducting will be successful as other early adopters of contactless payments have experienced an increased average spend of up to 33 per cent. The Key to success for the Co-operative Group store managers will be how good they are at educating their customers on the benefits of what contactless technology can bring.