Lidl may introduce its own payment solution as it conducts trials in Spain.
The discount grocer confirmed in an email to InternetRetailing that it was evaluating how customer payments might be integrated into its existing mobile app Lidl Plus through the tests.
The tests are taking place in some Spanish stores, with a full announcement expected when it is rolled out across all of them.
Lidl did not specify how many stores or how the app worked in a technical sense. A possible format is that customers add a payment card to the application and then pay through their device’s near-field communication.
The Lidl Plus app is currently available in Austria, Denmark, Spain, Poland and certain regions in Germany. It includes a digital loyalty card and provides easy access to discounts and promotions.
As well as potentially allowing a more convenient customer experience, introducing a payment option into the application could allow Lidl to combine details of how much customers are spending and what they’re buying with other data. This could help them create more effective segmenting tools to understand typical shopper behaviour.
