Coles to enable contactless payments

Buys 10,000 pin pads.

Retail giant Coles has ordered 10,000 pin pads that it will use to enable contactless payments for grocery purchases up to $100.

The pin pads, supplied directly by Ingenico, will be installed in stores progressively from this month.

Contactless payments will be tested at "selected" stores in February of next year.

A spokesman told iTnews that the retailer is yet to select the stores that will participate in the tests.

The company said it will roll out the pin pads to all 750-plus stores nationwide starting July 2012.

Coles said the system "will accept contactless payment from all major card operators, and can be used for both credit and debit payments."

A Visa spokeswoman said the company had some input into the business planning phase of the project.

"We talk to and support particular merchant clients and their rollouts," the spokeswoman said.

The retailer said it would post in-store "instructions for the new payment option as it becomes available".

Rival Woolworths announced a similar contactless payment project earlier this year.