Carrefour has created its own debit card which can be used for contactless transactions in a system that will initially become usable in many supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg, brusselstimes.com reports.
A quarter of Carrefour stores' checkouts in the two countries are equipped for this mode of payment, though the multinational says it expects "the figure will reach 50 per cent by the end of 2016.' It can be used for payments amounting to €75 in Carrefour supermarkets, or €20 in other retailers’ stores.
A Carrefour spokesperson for Belgium and Luxembourg said, “It is not a credit card and overdrafts are not possible. It is a rechargeable card linked to an account.”
Fimaser, the fiscal division of the supermarket group, commented, “It took five years for NFC (near-field communication payment) to work in Belgium. Its time has come.”
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
