Woolworths picks payWave for contactless payments

Stephen Withers
Friday, 20 May 2011 17:06

Business IT - Technology

Retail giant Woolworths will provide contactless payment facilities at stores operating under all of its brands.

Woolworths has announced it will offer Visa payWave contactless payment facilities from an unspecified date. The company trades under its own name for supermarkets, and also operates a number of other brands including Big W, Dick Smith, Tandy, Danks, and Dan Murphy's.

Visa payWave cards will be accepted without a PIN or signature for transactions up to $100.

Dhun Karai, Woolworths' head of group financial services said "We know how much our customers love to embrace new technologies and services that help make their life a little bit easier. They have well and truly adapted to self service checkouts and other in-store innovations and we hope contactless payment will be just as popular."

The company claims to have been the first to introduce contactless payment facilities (at petrol stations in 2009), and the first national retailer in Australia to implement chip payments security, PIN on credit card transactions, and pre-swipe payments.

Visa payWave cards are being issued in Australia by ANZ, Macquarie, NAB and Westpac.