Major UK food retailer boosts access in the community through work to upgrade its till systems to handle a variety of PayPoint bill payment services
The Co-operative Food has underlined its commitment to the communities in which it trades with the announcement that it has achieved a four-fold increase in availability of PayPoint payment services in its stores across the UK.
The grocery retailer, which is also the UK’s largest PayPoint operator handling more than one million transactions each week, has now nearly 12,000 electronic point-of-sale (EPoS) tills upgraded to process bill payments.
With a store in every postal area, The Co-operative Food – which handled over £1 billion worth of PayPoint transactions last year – has worked with the bill payment provider to extend its offering by enhancing the service and driving down transaction times for customers paying their bills at the same time as they put their groceries through the checkout.
Seamus Smith, managing director of PayPoint UK, stated: “Independent research constantly shows just what a valuable service PayPoint is to customers; for example, more than 30% of transactions take place outside traditional working hours, including Sundays and bank holidays.
Playing central community role
“This illustrates the massive contribution that community-based retailers such as The Co-operative make locally through their convenience stores, which are at the heart of their communities.”
Cheryl Marshall, service delivery director for The Co-operative Food, added: “We are delighted to have worked with PayPoint to further increase the scale and scope of this offering.
“PayPoint is not only a convenient payment method for many customers but, for the more vulnerable in society or for those in rural communities, it can often prove to be a vital service. As a convenience retailer, in addition to providing the daily food requirements of our customers, it is important that we make a positive contribution to the communities in which we trade.”
More than four million households in the UK have around 7.5 million pre-payment gas and/or electricity meters that can be ‘loaded’ at PayPoint terminals. The service also handles bill payments for water, telecoms, TV Licensing, housing associations and transport operators plus local authorities and other public sector bodies.