High Street grocer reveals 600-store roll out as provider's contactless transactions break four million barrier for first time
Supermarket Lidl has become the latest business in the UK to go contactless in partnership with WorldPay.
The global retailer has just rolled out contactless technology with near field communication (NFC) capabilities to all 600 of its UK stores, following a pilot in February.
Contactless technology was installed in all stores by the end of July, and within the first two weeks of August alone, 65,628 contactless transactions had already been made in Lidl stores.
Improving point-of-sale experience
Lidl has ensured that its customers know that it now offers contactless payments by adding plastic surrounds to all payment devices, showing that contactless is available and displaying store entrance posters announcing NFC acceptance in all stores.
Lidl spokesperson Georgina O’Donnell stated: “We decided to implement contactless in order to speed up payments and reduce queuing time. We were also responding to consumer demand to move with the times and offer a wider range of payment acceptance options.
"Installing the technology across so many stores was a significant project, but WorldPay helped to make it a smooth process. It’s still early days, but just two weeks on from launch we’ve processed over 65,000 transactions and customer reaction has been very positive.”
Contactless uptake continues growth
The payment provider also announced that it had processed more than four million contactless card transactions were processed for the first time in July, amounting to the greatest level of contactless card usage it said it has seen since the UK launch of the technology in 2008.
Ron Kalifa, deputy chairman of WorldPay, commented: “It’s important that businesses consider how consumer demand for new payment technologies is growing and choose to invest at the most optimum time to secure a return. The fact that Lidl has already seen such high levels of use is testament to the fact that consumer behaviours are changing as awareness of contactless payments grows.”
