Barclaycard trials Grab+Go payment concept

File under ‘nice bit of PR but will never go mainstream’. Barclaycard is testing out Grab+Go, which allows customers to scan and pay for low-value goods using their smartphone. Users download an app, create an account and pre-load their payment details, and then use their smartphone camera to scan the barcode on items. When finished, they click ‘I’m done’ and walk out the store; payment is taken and the receipt is stored in the app.

The concept is currently being trialled by Barclays and Barclaycard colleagues in the staff restaurant in London with Northampton, Teesside and Wilmington in the US to follow shortly – ahead of a public roll-out. “One of the key customer frustrations with shopping is the time spent queuing to pay for items they want to buy – especially when they are in a hurry. Using the latest technology, we’ve developed Grab+Go to streamline the shopping experience by removing the need to physically check out every time you want to buy something,” says Usman Sheikh, Director of Design & Experimentation at Barclaycard. “The way in which people shop and pay has evolved significantly over the past decade, and as the use of mobile and wearable payments grows, we are constantly looking at how we can use technology to make our customers’ lives easier. An important part of this trial will be getting feedback from colleagues, as well as the operators in the staff restaurants, to further develop the product and proposal. Once the final version is complete, it will be available to our clients to help revolutionise payments in their own businesses.”