Yahoo Finance Pay with QR codes at Coles, Woolies: Here’s how it will work
Keep your phones out: paying for your groceries at your local supermarket will soon be possible with another snap of a QR code.
A collective of banks and retailers including Coles and Woolworths will roll out eftpos’ new platform, eQR, which will act like a QR code version of ‘tap and go’ contactless payment.
The new payment option will be rolled out across the nation “before Christmas” and includes the Commonwealth Bank, NAB, as well as Coles and Woolworths as its retail partners.
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Financial technology firms such as Beem It, Azupay and Merchant Warrior have also partnered with eftpos to roll out the new eQR platform.
It comes after the COVID-19 pandemic bred widespread familiarity with QR codes, as check-ins to nearly all public venues became mandatory.
“The eQR platform aims to provide better experiences for consumers and merchants through added security, loyalty, offers and digital receipts, no matter where they choose to shop – online, on their mobile or at the checkout,” said eftpos CEO Stephen Benton.
“COVID has changed customer behaviour and Australians are now ready for the enhanced payment experience offered by eQR.”
What it means for Coles, Woolworths shoppers
Executives from Coles and Woolworths both said they were looking forward to giving customers an extra option when it comes to checking out their items.
Woolworths’ Paul Monnington said he was pleased to give customers an option to pay and earn rewards in one move.
"We know speed and ease through the checkout are increasingly important to our customers amid their busy lives,” Monnington said.
For CBA and NAB, it means their smaller merchants are able to conduct payments and transactions without payment terminals.
All customers would have to do is take a snap of the QR code at the kiosk, which would trigger the digital payment process.
The eQR platform is currently being trialled by a number of Australian merchants, and will help the big banks regain some power back from Apple’s Apple Pay Wallet.
Tech giants like Apple and Google have been viewed as “gatekeepers” in the mobile payments space, with the Reserve Bank concerned that this could stifle innovation and competition.
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