UK retailer Marks & Spencer is set to trail contactless payments across 25 London shops and a number of Simple Food stores over the summer.
The system M&S is trialling will allow customers to buy items worth under £20 in less than a second by touching a reader with their credit cards. The retailer has partnered with Visa Europe and retail payment specialist Streamline to provide the technology, which
Darren Wilson, managing director of Streamline, said that the technology will speed up transactions and reduce queuing times. “IT is becoming increasingly popular on the high street and we predict that the technology will have a very positive effect on the shopper experience at Marks and Spencer,” he said.
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Mark Austin, head of contactless at Visa Europe, said: “We are delighted that Marks & Spencer has decided to adopt contactless technology and believe the introduction of this service will be of great value to their customers.”
In addition to the 21 million contactless Visa cards, there were over 109,000 contactless acceptance points in the UK in March 2012, and Visa Europe predicts there will be 30 million contactless cards in the UK by the end of the calendar year.
Other retailers to go contactless with Streamline and Visa Europe include include Asda, who put the technology in 25 of its stores in July, and WHSmith, who has introduced it in 46 of its stores across the UK.
The Co-operative Group joined forces with Barclaycard and Visa in April to roll out contactless payment technology the Group’s 770 pharmacy branches in addition to 2,800 food stores by the end of 2012.
Towards the end of 2012, travelers in London will be able to pay for bus journeys using contactless payments, which will extend to tube, DLR, Tram and London Overground travel by 2013.
