Pay By TouchTM today announced that the Oxford, Swindon and Gloucester Co-op will begin piloting its pioneering payment solution in three stores around Oxfordshire.
The service is expected to be operational by mid-summer. Pay By Touch will be deployed in both self and manned checkouts in the participating stores to deliver increased speed, convenience and security to customers.
The Oxford, Swindon and Gloucester Co-op is widely recognised as an innovator in customer service and retail solutions. Last year, Group General Manager - Retail, Bill Laird, led a self scanning initiative that won a Retail Solutions award and the overall accolade of 'Retail Solution of the Year'. This year Laird will pilot Pay By Touch to reduce shoppers' time at the checkout and streamline age verification on restricted goods.
Self-checkouts offer improved service and convenience to consumers and adoption rates are accelerating across the UK, especially in the grocery sector. However, a primary challenge for all grocers is age verification when selling restricted products. Laird explained, "Age verification for goods such as alcohol, tobacco, DVDs and computer games necessitates a high level of supervisor intervention at the checkout. Pay By Touch will greatly reduce the number of times a supervisor needs to be called, which minimises the time customers spend at the checkout."
Pay By Touch is a service that allows customers to pay for purchases using a simple, secure method of finger scanning at the point-of-sale, completely eliminating the need to carry cards, cash, loyalty cards or a cheque book. Finger imaging links the individual to an electronic wallet which holds their financial and loyalty programme information. The initial enrolment process takes about a minute as customers put their finger on a reader, enter a code and swipe the cards they want to use. The Pay By Touch finger scanning technology does not store actual fingerprints; instead it creates a set of geometric points that allow for a secure identity match at point of sale.
Tom Fischer, Vice President of Pay By Touch in Europe said, "I am delighted that a retailer with a reputation for retail innovation has decided to offer Pay By Touch to its customers. We are confident the service will be well received by consumers as a convenient, secure and fast way to pay."
Laird added "The whole UK retail market is currently focused upon the introduction of Chip & PIN technology to improve service and reduce fraud. The Pay By Touch solution offers additional benefits and challenges existing thinking regarding in-store card transactions. We will carefully evaluate customer and operator reactions to the system throughout the period. This is an exciting project and we are delighted to be the first retailer to bring it to the attention of UK consumers."