Tall coffees and short queues as Starbucks goes contactless
24 May 2011 10:44 GMT
Starbucks to roll out contactless payment with Barclaycard
Starbucks has signed a deal with Barclaycard, in partnership with Visa Europe, to bring contactless payments to its coffee shops. From Spring 2012, customers in selected stores will be able to pay for their coffees by simply holding their contactless credit or debit card over a payment terminal.
Following last week’s launch of the UK’s first contactless mobile payment service, by Barclaycard and Orange, customers will also be able to pay using their mobile phone. Available to Orange customers who use a ‘Quick Tap’ enabled handset, customers will just have to tap their mobile phone on a contactless reader to make purchases of £15 and under.
Subject to a successful initial pilot of contactless in Starbucks shops, the technology will roll out across the bulk of Starbucks coffeehouses in the UK and Ireland. Starbucks joins a number of high street retailers in announcing the introduction of the payment technology.
Pete Blower, Starbucks EMEA Technology Services Manager, says: “At Starbucks we’re as committed to customer service as we are to great coffee. 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.”
Since launching the first contactless card in 2007, Barclaycard has led the industry on rolling out contactless payment terminals and together with Barclays have issued over 80 per cent of the contactless-enabled credit and debit cards in the UK.
Marc Pettican, Sales Director of Global Payment Acceptance at Barclaycard says of the deal with Starbucks: “It’s great to see such a well known name as Starbucks realising the benefit that contactless technology can bring to their customers and their business. 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.”
Head of Contactless at Visa Europe, Mark Austin, comments: "Starbucks’ take up of this new technology shows we are reaching a tipping point where contactless payments will become a mainstream way to make fast, secure, low value transactions. Increasing acceptance by retailers and demand from consumers means the growth of contactless payments is set to accelerate quickly and will be widely visible in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
The number of contactless terminals provided to merchants by Barclaycard has more than doubled in a year[1] . Barclaycard and Barclays have also spearheaded the issuing of contactless-enabled credit and debit cards, putting 11.4 million into circulation. As the number of contactless cards and terminals has increased so too has the amount of transactions: Last year 1.7 million contactless payments were processed, which represented growth of 150 per cent compared to 2009.
[1] 25,000 contactless terminals in March 2010 to 52,000 in March 2011
Notes to Editors:
About contactless
Contactless payment enables customers to make a purchase of £15 or less without the need to sign or enter a pin. Barclays and Barclaycard are leading the way in introducing contactless and there are now over 11.4 million contactless-enabled Barclaycards and Barclays debit cards, helping retailers reduce queuing and cut the cost of card transactions. In line with its history of providing customers with innovative payment forms, Barclaycard also intends to make payments by mobile phone available to the mass market by 2012.
Barclays and Barclaycard are the leading providers of contactless terminals in the UK and users can make contactless payments at over 50,000 stores across the UK including Prêt A Manger, Subway and EAT.
To find out more about Contactless payment, visit www.barclaycard.co.uk/contactless/ or www.Barclays.co.uk/contactless
About Barclays
Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in retail banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking and wealth management with an extensive international presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 50 countries and employs over 144,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for 48 million customers and clients worldwide.
For further information about Barclays, please visit our website www.barclays.com.
About ‘Quick Tap’
- The Samsung Tocco Quick Tap handset will be available on Pay As You Go for £59.99, and from free on Pay Monthly contracts from £10 per month on 24 month contracts
- MasterCard PayPass is the technology used at Point of Sale to effect the mobile contactless payment transactions
- Gemalto provides Barclays with Trusted Service Management (TSM) operated services which enable the secure deployment and management of mobile contactless payment. Gemalto’s full range of NFC solutions also includes the UICC Cards supplied to Orange
About Visa Europe
In Europe, there are 427 million Visa debit, credit and commercial cards. In the 12 months ending December 2010 those cards were used to make purchases and cash withdrawals to the value of €1.6 trillion. 12.5% of consumer spending at point of sale in Europe is with a Visa card, and more than 70% of that is on Visa debit cards.
Visa Europe is owned and operated by more than 4,000 European member banks and was incorporated in July 2004. In October 2007, Visa Europe became independent of the new global Visa Inc., with an exclusive, irrevocable and perpetual licence in Europe. As a dedicated European payment system it is able to respond quickly to the specific market needs of European banks and their customers - cardholders and retailers - and to meet the European Commission’s objective to create a true internal market for payments.
Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world. In addition, Visa/PLUS is one of the world’s largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in over 200 countries.
For more information, visit www.visaeurope.com
About Starbucks Coffee Company
Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting the highest quality arabica coffee in the world. Today, with stores around the globe, the company is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. Through our unwavering commitment to excellence and our guiding principles, we bring the unique Starbucks Experience to life for every customer through every cup. To share in the experience, please visit us in our stores or online at www.starbucks.co.uk
Barclaycard, part of Barclays Retail and Business Banking, is a leading global payment business which helps consumers, retailers and businesses to make and accept payments flexibly, and to access short-term credit when needed.
The company is one of the pioneers of new forms of payments and is at the forefront of developing viable contactless and mobile payment schemes for today and cutting edge forms of payment for the future. It also issues credit and charge cards to corporate customers and the UK Government. Barclaycard partners with a wide range of organisations across the globe to offer their customers or members payment options and credit.
In addition to the UK, Barclaycard operates in the United States, Europe and Africa.
Key facts published in February 2012;
- number of customers: 23.5m
- number of retailer/merchant relationships: 87,000
Barclays.com