Starbucks UK launches contactless payments trial
24 May, 2011
category: Contactless
Starbucks has signed a deal with Barclaycard and Visa Europe to bring contactless payments to its UK coffee shops.
Starting in Spring 2012, customers in selected stores will be able to pay for their coffee by simply holding their Visa contactless credit or debit cards over a payment terminal. Pending positive results of the pilot, Starbucks says it will roll out the technology across the bulk of Starbucks coffeeshops in the UK and Ireland.
The announcement follows last week’s launch of the UK’s first contactless mobile payment service from Barclaycard and Orange, Quick Tap. The service allows customers to make contactless purchases of £15 and under with a pass of their Quick Tap enabled phone. Starbucks customers can expect to use this new technology too as the pilot gets underway.
“We’re seeing more and more people use cards for payment and contactless will allow us to serve our customers more quickly and with greater ease,” comments Pete Blower, Starbucks EMEA Technology services manager.
Marc Pettican, sales director of Global Payment Acceptance at Barclaycard, adds: “Coffee shops are the perfect environment for contactless payments because so many of their customers are in a rush to get their drink and go. That Starbucks has decided to introduce contactless is great news for a brand seen as technologically innovative.”
According to Barclaycard, the number of contactless terminals the company has provided to merchants has more than doubled in the past year. To date Barclaycard has issued some 11.4 million contactless-enabled credit and debit cards, which were used to perform 1.7 million contactless transactions in 2010 alone.
