Rachel Armstrong takes on checkout/payments experience role at Sainsbury’s

Rachel Armstrong has started a new position as Head of Checkout & Payment Experiences at Sainsbury’s

She joined the grocery giant in 2019 as Digital Strategy Manager, before taking on the role of Channel Strategy Manager in February 2022.

In a LinkedIn post, Armstrong said: “Super excited to join Natalie Dunn (Director of Customer Experience, Retail & Digital) and the CX team and to work on the future development of this key stage of the customer journey in our stores.”

Checkout.com

Checkout.com was recently appointed by Sainsbury’s to simplify and modernise payment infrastructure across the grocery giant’s business.

New till-free technology is the first stage in a long-term partnership, aimed at creating more digital payment solutions for Sainsbury’s and improving its customer offering.

The new Checkout.com enabled SmartShop functionality, will allow customers to pay for their shopping via an app on their smartphones.

Underpinning the new functionality will be Checkout.com’s payments platform, enabling transactions through digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

This is live across Sainsbury’s SmartShop stores and will be rolled out to Argos and Habitat stores in the coming months.

Helen Hunter, Chief Technology Officer, Customer and Data, Sainsbury’s, said: “Our priority is providing our customers with a smooth and frictionless shopping experience.”

“We’re excited to roll-out this new capability, made possible by Checkout.com’s technology, as we redefine an omnichannel checkout experience for customers with SmartShop.

“Our strategic partnership is an important part of our plan to simplify and modernise our payments infrastructure across Sainsbury’s.”

“We’re delighted to award them our supplier award for ‘One to Watch’ as a testament to their ability to go above and beyond. We look forward to evolving our omnichannel strategy, underpinned by their platform.”

The ProcessOut offering will also act as Sainsbury’s payment orchestration platform, directing all processing across the business.

Once fully implemented, this will allow Sainsbury’s to streamline its legacy systems, meaning it can see online orders in real-time, permitting better data driven decisions and insights, and more tailored offers and experiences for its customers.