Waitrose showcases Onescan mobile payments

Waitrose, one of the UK's biggest and most innovative supermarket retailers, is making plans to put mobile technology at the heart of the shopping experience.

In a showcase event at its new store in Swindon, Waitrose highlighted a wide range of advances in mobile technology - including Onescan payments - in an initiative that the company believes sets the direction for omni-channel retailing.

The journalists, analysts and senior John Lewis Partnership executives who toured the modern store at the event saw an array of digital screens and iPads that shoppers could interact with and also experienced a new Waitrose App that delivers personalised special offers direct to consumers mobiles. Customers in the store, also saw concepts of how they may in the future benefit from Paypal and Ensygnia’s Onescan mobile payment technology, which was embedded as a proof-of-concept application.

Onescan allows customers to complete a payment in-store using a mobile phone App, completing a purchase direct from any iPad screen in the store, without the need to head to the till point. This opens up the opportunity to pay for goods - such as heavier items like cases of wine - to be delivered straight to the customer’s home or for those customers sampling the wines and deli-platters in-store to pay for those items there and then by mobile.

"putting technology and convenience at the heart of its business" - Waitrose

Speaking at the store, Waitrose managing director Mark Price said that the initiative in Swindon had brought together under one roof many of the future innovations and in-store experiences that the company had been trialling over the past year.

As the retailer takes the fight to the discount stores, Price said Waitrose would be putting technology and convenience at the heart of its business and would aim to be "everything the discounters aren’t". He added that Waitrose would look to continue to innovate to make shopping both online and in-store a seamless enjoyable experience with new "try and buy" grazing areas, juice bars and expert advice available at the touch of screen.

Ensygnia CEO Richard H Harris added: "The Swindon Waitrose store event was a really exciting showcase of potential and new retail technology and we're delighted to be working with O2 to demonstrate the potential for Onescan mobile payments to shoppers in the store."

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