Lidl Launches Contactless Payments Across UK Chain

The German-based discount supermarket chain announced the launch of its new NFC contactless payment technology scheme across all 600 stores across the UK.

The contactless roll out came as a result of a partnership with WorldPay, and was initially installed towards the end of July 2013, which followed a well-received pilot in February 2013. The pilot was deemed successful as over 65,628 contactless payment transactions were completed within the first two weeks of August after the pilot began. Lidl shares that it integrated NFC payments to help reduce the queuing times at checkout and enhance the customer experience.

“We decided to implement contactless in order to speed up payments and reduce queuing time, Lidl Spokesperson Georgina O’Donnell. 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.”

Ron Kalifa, Deputy Chairman of WorldPay said, “We recently undertook a major research project which found that one in ten consumers have already used contactless technology, and 60% recognize the contactless symbol. We expect this number to continue to rise because, of those who have used it, 93% of users find contactless quick and efficient. It’s important that businesses consider how consumer demand for new payment technologies is growing and choose to invest at the 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 behaviors are changing as awareness of contactless payments grows.”

Mark Austin, Vice President – Head of Contactless at Visa Europe commented, “With contactless spend in the UK growing five fold in the last 12 months, Lidl’s roll out of the payment technology is great news for Visa cardholders. We’re delighted to see monthly contactless spend increase to £45.2 million in June 2012 as consumers become increasingly confident with making every day contactless payments.”

To read the full press release at WorldPay click here.