Tesco Tries Out Mobile Payment Shopping

Tesco has announced it will be trialling mobile payment technology for the first time as it looks to speed up the lunchtime rush.

The supermarket giant has teamed up with payments processor PowaTag to trial its payments technology at Tesco’s Dean Street Metro store in London’s Soho area this week.

Customers using the PowaTag app, available on both iOS and Android, are now able to pay for their goods by scanning a QR code inside the store, greatly speeding up the payments process, with Tesco challenging customers to “Take the 30 second challenge! Pick, pay and leave in 30 seconds”.

PowaTag says the sign-up process, which involves customers downloading the app and linking a credit or debit card for payments, takes less than two minutes, with customers then able to continue to use the app to make mobile payments until the end of this week.

Free lunch

To promote the app, Tesco offered the first 500 customers using the app a complimentary Meal Deal during the first two days of the trial, meaning shoppers could get a main lunch item, a snack and a drink for free.

“We are always testing new ideas to see how we can make the shopping experience better for our customers,” Tesco told NFC World+. “We are currently conducting a week-long experiment in one store in order to see how we might speed up purchasing and reduce queuing time for customers, and will see how we could apply some [of] these learnings into future store, checkout and technology designs.”

“This week’s event is a pilot for Tesco to see how well PowaTag performs before they decide how to move forwards,” PowaTag added. “They picked the Dean Street store specifically because it has a very high customer throughput.”

Mobile payments have gradually been creeping onto the British high street as more and more retailers adopt the technology. Last week, a landmark deal signed by payments provider Zapp saw some of the UK’s biggest high street brands, including Asda, Sainsbury’s, and House of Fraser, announce that they will be introducing in-store support for mobile payments from next year.

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