Co-op partners Mastercard to trial in-aisle mobile payments

Co-op partners Mastercard to trial in-aisle mobile payments

Shoppers at UK supermarket the Co-op will soon be able to bypass the checkout and instead pay for their groceries with their own mobile phones.

The Co-op has teamed up with Mastercard to trial a new app at the retailer's support centre in Manchester ahead of a wider rollout this summer.

Customers will be able to scan products as they walk around the store. When they have finished shopping, the amount they owe will be deducted from their account with a single click, using Mastercard Masterpass.



The technology also links information from a customer’s Co-op Membership account - telling shoppers how much they have saved and, how much the Co-op will donate to local good causes following the transaction.

Elliott Goldenberg, head, digital payments, Mastercard UK, says: "With the Co-op we are bringing our online and mobile capability - Masterpass - into the physical store, and offering consumers who want a fast and frictionless buying experience, a secure and reliable way to pay."

Matthew Speight, director, retail support, Co-op, adds: "We recognise there are many communities where customers pop in to their local Co-op and enjoy a friendly chat - it is all part of the service. Whereas for others, perhaps with a train to catch or on a school run, every second can count as consumers seek increased convenience."

Comments: (10)

Craig Lawrance
Craig Lawrance - Starkspur Ltd - Chalfonts 07 March, 2018, 10:35Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

A Welcome convenience. Personally I can't stand having to wait to pay for goods. I don't have to wait online to pay, so this makes it the same offline and is a positive step forward from the CO-OP.

Ketharaman Swaminathan
Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 07 March, 2018, 16:45Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

I can understand how "Customers will be able to scan products" - that's quite established for ages. More interesting thing to know is how retailers will ensure that customers do indeed scan products they put into their shopping basket i.e. don't steal. This has been the bugbear of self-checkout solutions and has prevented them from going mainstream for a long time. 

A Finextra member
A Finextra member 08 March, 2018, 10:00Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

Self checkout is more than mainstream in the UK - it's the default in most supermarkets these days, especially the smaller convenience ones.  Self scanning is also popping up in most larger supermarkets as well.

Ketharaman Swaminathan
Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 08 March, 2018, 10:21Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

True dat @FinextraMember, I remember using self-checkout at Waitrose and other supermarkets more than 10 years ago in UK. I actually meant "mobile self-checkout" solutions aka Scan & Go aka Self-Scanning. TY for pointing out that there's a big difference. 

Ahsan Raza
Ahsan Raza - QSmash - Milton Keynes 08 March, 2018, 13:20Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

QSmash is another solution which is providing this service where a customer can scan the product and pay in the app when finishing the shopping. Clearly this the future of the shopping.

Ketharaman Swaminathan
Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 08 March, 2018, 14:01Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

TBH we've been hearing that "mobile self-checkout" is the future of shopping for several years. It hasn't become anything like that during this period. Now, in the day and age of Amazon Go, I think mobile self-checkout's days are numbered.

A Finextra member
A Finextra member 08 March, 2018, 14:22Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

Most of the solutions in the major uk supermarkets (and the Dutch ones) involves the supermarket loaning the customer a dedicated device to do the scanning themselves - these seem to be be being introduced more and more in the larger supermarkets.  Co-op typically has smaller units so I think this is potentially their solution to not being able to justify dedicated devices that the larger supermarkets have.

Harish Narayanan
Harish Narayanan - Emirates NBD - Dubai 09 April, 2018, 11:37Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

@Ketharaman Swaminathan Echo your thoughts, and been having the same for the past few years. I haven't experienced self-checkouts, but I still haven't figured out how the retailer ensures no additional un-scanned item(s) was picked up by a customer. Any live examples on this?

A Finextra member
A Finextra member 09 April, 2018, 11:50Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

Made me laugh.  At my local UK Co-op all the 'premium' alcohol is behind a locked counter as they have no security, and people just walk out without paying at checkouts already.

Ketharaman Swaminathan
Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 09 April, 2018, 13:05Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

@Harish Narayanan:

I've heard of only way to prevent pilferage from mobile self-checkout so far. In this method, customers place their shopping bag on a weighing scale. A shop employee tallies off the expected weight (computed from order) against the actual weight (read off the scale). Apparently, this method works only below a certain threshold of weight - 3 kgs if memory serves - because, as the number / weight of items rises, it's not difficult to pilfer a costlier product by scanning a cheaper product that weighs about the same. As a result, above the weight threshold, the shop employee empties out the shopping bag and tallies actual items against the list of billed items. Not a very great CX, if you ask me, but this is the only method I've heard of so far.

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