Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Marks & Spencer (M&S) announced today (Monday October 1) that its new scan and pay service – Mobile, Pay, Go – will be available for customers in six London stores ahead of Christmas.
Currently available in M&S Simply Food branches on London’s Edgware Road and Waterside in Paddington, the service will roll out to other stores in the capital at West Hampstead, Bankside, Canary Wharf and Stratford Westfield over the coming weeks.
The move follows a successful trial of the service at Waterside Simply Food over the summer. The store now sees 20% of its sales from Mobile, Pay, Go with an average of 170 items purchased through the app every hour.
The retailer said: ‘Mobile, Pay, Go is a simple way that customers can pay for items without approaching a till. They simply open the M&S app, scan products as they go, and then pay from their iPhone using Apple Pay or a saved card on their M&S.com account. It’s a seamless way to do a fast, seamless shop up to the value of £30.’
M&S added: ‘With the service enabling customers to purchase lunch (sandwich, crisps and a drink) in as little as 40 seconds, the app is set to be particularly helpful in stores where a high proportion of transactions take place over lunchtime. In Waterside Simply Food, 60% of transactions take place between 12pm and 2pm, so it’s unsurprising that more than 1,500 people have already used Mobile, Pay, Go with a third of active users making five or more transactions a week.’
M&S retail, operations and property director Sacha Berendji said: “Digitally enabled stores that offer a seamless customer experience are a crucial part of our ambition to be a ‘digital first’ retailer.
“Our customers – especially those who come to us for lunch – are so busy that any tech that speeds up the shopping experience is a massive benefit to them. Crucially, it also means [staff] are freed up to offer great service in other parts of the store, helping to improve the overall experience in the lunchtime rush. We’re moving with pace and we can’t wait to hear what our customers think.”
M&S will collect customer feedback and adapt its Mobile, Pay, Go initiative before rolling it out to more stores early next year.
