Image courtesy of presscentre.boots-uk.com

Boots customers can now pay with contactless cards across all UK stores. The health and beauty retailer announced the news following the successful completion of a roll out of contactless terminals with partners Visa Europe and WorldPay.

Nigel Shortt, Head of Delivery – retail, Boots UK, said: “At Boots UK, we are continually looking for new ways to offer our customers great shopping experiences. Contactless payment saves time for both our customers and staff during peak trading periods by speeding up traditional card payment and reducing transaction and queue times. The initial stages of our roll out demonstrated that consumers enjoy the benefits of contactless payments and we are delighted that this is now possible in all Boots UK stores.”

The new terminals add to the existing 289,000 contactless enabled terminals currently being used by 30 million Visa contactless cards in the UK. According to the latest figures from Visa UK consumers made over eight million contactless purchases in August 2013 with an average spend value of £6.55.

Mark Austin, Director – Head of Contactless at Visa Europe said: “We continue to see rapid growth in the number of contactless payments made each month in the UK. Consumers and retailers alike are recognising the benefits contactless offers for every day payments and – as a result – are becoming more confident in using and offering the technology. It is great to see leading UK retailers, such as Boots UK, offering contactless payments and we are excited about other retailers coming on board in the remainder of 2013, and beyond.”

As consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable with using contactless technology figures are reporting a 23% increase year on year in the number of contactless cards and a 135% increase year on year in the number of contactless terminals.

Ron Kalifa, Deputy Chairman at WorldPay, said: “Boots UK was one of the first retailers to trial contactless payments with its customers and with the national roll out now complete, joins a growing list of major brands backing this technology. Boots UK has put the tools in place to ensure the investment reaps rewards by both educating its staff on the facility and ensuring consumers are encouraged to use it, through point of sale and wider customer promotion. This support is vital in ensuring the experience is seamless and works for both customers and staff.”

Visa contactless payments are said to be much more secure than carrying cash. They use the same secure technology as Chip and PIN and have a maximum purchase amount of £20 per transaction. Aware of the risk of fraud, Visa runs impromptu checks were cardholders are asked to enter their PIN to verify they are the genuine cardholder.

Other merchants accepting contactless payments in the UK include: M&S, Lidl, Costa Coffee, WH Smith, McDonalds, Post Office, Pret a Manger, Starbucks, Waitrose and Costcutter.

Banks issuing contactless cards in the UK include: Barclays, Barclaycard, Capital One, Duncan Lawrie, HSBC, Investec, Lloyds Banking Group, MBNA, NatWest and RBS.

Source: visaeurope.com/en/newsroom