Coles Supermarkets is looking to get customers through its checkout lines faster through acceptance of contactless payments, Australia’s second-largest supermarket chain announced last week.
The retailer plans to test contactless-payment acceptance at select stores before rolling the technology out nationwide by July, Tony Buffin, Coles finance director, said in a press release. The company will upgrade its Ingenico terminals in 750 stores to support the initiative.
During the test, customers at participating stores using the contactless terminals will not have to enter PINs or sign for purchases for sales up to AU$100 (US$101 or 76 euros), Coles side in the release.
Coles plans to deploy the terminals in stores progressively starting later this month, Buffin said.
“Customers rightly expect to be able to pay for their groceries in our stores quickly and with a minimum of fuss,” Buffin said. “This new payment technology means customers with a contactless-enabled card can simply wave it in front of the PIN pad terminal to instantly pay for any purchase under AU$100.”
Coles declined to respond to additional PaymentsSource questions, saying it will provide more information as the testing and rollout commence.
Matthew Sinclair, director with Australia-based Carpadium Consulting, tells PaymentsSource Coles’ move will raise the profile on contactless cards because it is such a big retailer in Australia. Thus far, few retailers deploy tap-to-pay pads in nongrocery locations, he says.
“We have a grocery duopoly here in Australia with Coles on one side and Woolworths on the other,” he adds, noting Woolworths already earlier committed to supporting contactless payment. “So the fact that now nearly 100% of the grocery checkout terminals will support contactless payments will definitely see an uptick in their usage.”
