Marks & Spencer reports on contactless roll-out
Multichannel retailer completes mobile store payment technology deployment to become Visa’s number one UK contactless retailer
Marks & Spencer (M&S) has revealed the completion of its roll out of contactless payment to 644 of its UK stores, including its railway and airport franchise stores.
The move makes M&S a leading contactless retailer in the UK, processing over
230,000 contactless transactions every week, which it said amounts to one in
seven (14%) of its customer payments under £20.
The technology, provided byVisa Europe, enables consumers to touch a contactless reader with their Near
Field Communications (NFC) enabled cards or mobile phones to pay for goods
under £20 without the need to enter a
PIN.
Convenience for food
The service is proving
particularly popular in the retailer’s
Food Halls, with a quarter of contactless payments processed at self checkout
points in its food department.
Sacha Berendji, Marks &
Spencer retail director, commented: “Contactless
and mobile payment is set to be an exciting part of the future retail
landscape. A contactless payment takes place in less than a second, creating a
quicker, easier and more convenient shopping experience. Customers are already
embracing these benefits and, through our roll-out, we’re ensuring our stores can cater for customers’ changing shopping habits.”
UK contactless hotspots
The retailer expanded its
contactless roll-out following a successful trial in 25 London stores last
summer. Although London stores continue to have the highest levels of
contactless transactions, M&S also reported seeing increasing use of
contactless cards in other busy urban centres including Manchester, Croydon and
Reading.
Richard Cooke, manager at the
M&S Finsbury Pavement store, which completes around one in three of its
card transactions under £20 by contactless, reported: “In busy central stores that receive a huge lunchtime rush,
contactless payment is helping to revolutionise the customer experience.
Self-checkout tills are already very popular, but contactless helps reduce
queue times even further, giving customers a payment option that’s even quicker than cash.”