New technology opens doors to contactless payment revolution

EAT, Commidea Ltd and Barclaycard Business are breaking new ground in the retail industry with developments in contactless payment technology. EAT a leading sandwich, soup and coffee shop, has become the first retailer in the UK to introduce a fully integrated contactless payment system. Through using Commidea’s Ocius Chip & PIN solution with Contactless technology, Eat will now be able to process both Visa (Paywave) and MasterCard (Paypass) contactless transactions for its customers using Barclaycard Business as their Merchant provider.

The contactless solution developed by Commidea, a leading card payment processing supplier, will allow EAT to offer its customers a fast and convenient method of payment on all transactions of £10 and under. With 350,000 customers per week and an average transaction value of less than £5, EAT is ideally positioned to benefit from the technology. Cardholders simply need to touch their card against the reader instead of entering a PIN or signing. The transaction is secure, offers both the retailer and customer a faster transaction time and shorter queues, and takes away the hassle of handling loose change.

The first integrated contactless Electronic Point of Sale (EPoS) solution has been installed at EAT’s Moorgate branch by Commidea and Common Sense EPoS Ltd and enables the retailer to select the method of payment that customers want to use – either cash, Chip and PIN or contactless. Over the coming weeks, the technology will be rolled out to a further 24 London based EAT stores.

Guy Harvey, Finance Director of EAT commented: “We are delighted to be the first retailer in the UK to introduce a fully integrated contactless payment system. Our customers can now benefit from a faster and more efficient way of paying and we are looking forward to rolling this innovative payment solution out to many of our other London shops over the coming weeks. Throughout this project we have received a lot of support from Common Sense EPoS, Commidea and Barclaycard Business and we look forward to developing those relationships as we roll out this technology.”

Giles Cooper, Head of Sales and Marketing at Commidea, “With Commidea being the only integrated contactless payment supplier in the UK, EAT now benefit from the latest in contactless payment technology to enable faster transaction times and shorter queues at the point of sale. Commidea are currently working with other retailers in the UK to launch additional integrated contactless payment solutions in the coming weeks.”

James McDonald, Head of Contactless, Barclaycard Business commented: “This fully integrated solution has opened up the doors to contactless for a huge number of retailers who have their own EPoS system. The technology can process payments in less than half a second, enabling retailers to serve more customers and reduce queues at busy times. This is good for retailers and good for customers. We look forward to working with Commidea in the future to help more retailers sign up.”

The integrated contactless product has been built on Commidea’s proven Ocius pre-approved Chip and PIN solutions. It consists of an external contactless card reader, with a large LCD screen to display transaction messages to consumers. This is integrated with two of Commidea’s fixed counter top Chip and PIN solutions - Ocius for PCs and Ocius Vx510 - to produce a complete card payment process solution.

Contactless technology is particularly suited to outlets where fast and convenient transactions are needed such as fast food outlets, coffee shops, newsagents, off licences, bars, pubs, parking facilities and vending machines.