Tesco is planning to roll out its PayQwiq mobile payment app across all its UK stores by the end of the year following successful trials. The move would put it in direct contest with both Apple Pay, Android Pay and Google Wallet offering a much higher payment limit of £400.
PayQwiq, like most other mobile payment apps, allows Tesco consumers load debit or credit cards into the app, which is then used to pay online by scanning QR and bar codes on the screen. It will also allow users to pay at contactless terminals in store.
The app will also let users simultaneously collect Club Card points as they spend.
PayQwiq has so far been trialled in an invitation-only trial in 50 stores in Edinburgh, Plymouth, London and Northern Ireland. The trial is now being extended to 500 stores across the country and Tesco is writing to 600,000 Club Card holders to tell them about the service and to encourage them to download the app.
The move is part of Tesco’s on going plans to make shopping easier and, having such a high limit, looks to make mobile payments in store much more mainstream for many shoppers. Linking the Club Card to the app is also an inspired move, making the spending and accruing of points seamless and rapid.
The move comes as retailers struggle to understand how to fit mobile payments into their strategy. Wallets such as Apple Pay and Android Pay have a £30 limit, which has so far seen up take of both being slow.
Creating its own app to handle its own payments online and in-store is a bold move to ‘own’ mobile payments. Last year rival Sainsbury’s was rumoured to be working on a shopping app that would allow shoppers to create shopping lists, to be guided round the store and to scan and checkout without queuing at the till. We are still waiting to hear more on this.
