Retail giant Marks & Spencer (M&S) has launched its scan and pay service, ‘Mobile, Pay, Go’, which will be available for customers in six London stores ahead of Christmas.
Available now in Edgware Road and Waterside (M&S’ Paddington HQ) Simply Food, the service will roll out to West Hampstead, Bankside, Canary Wharf and Stratford Westfield over the coming weeks.
The roll out follows a successful trial of the service at Waterside Simply Food over the summer. The store now sees 20 per cent of its sales from Mobile, Pay, Go with an average of 170 items being purchased through the app every hour.
The approach is an easy way for customers to pay for items without approaching a till. Using the M&S app, customers scan products as they go and then pay from their iPhone using Apple Pay or a saved card on their M&S.com account for purchases up to the value of £30.
With the service enabling customers to purchase lunch 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.
More than 1,500 people have already used Mobile, Pay, Go with a third of active users making five or more transactions a week.
“Digitally enabled stores that offer a seamless customer experience are a crucial part of our transformation and our ambition to be a Digital First retailer,” said M&S retail, operations and property director Sacha Berendji.
“Our customers – especially those who come to us for lunch – are so busy, any tech that can speed up the shopping experience is a massive benefit to them.
“Crucially, it also means our brilliant colleagues 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.”
Jim Cruickshank, global head of digital product and UX at Marks & Spencer added: “Mobile Pay Go is one of many new initiatives we’re developing as part of our digital transformation, with agile and lean practices at the core of our approach. We’ve worked hard to deliver the fastest and most friction-free customer experience possible.”
M&S will continue to collect customer feedback and adapt Mobile, Pay, Go before rolling out to more stores early next year.
Following an initial collaboration with The App Business, this roll out is being fully managed and developed by M&S’s in-house digital experts.