Contactless payments laggard Sainsbury's promises to catch up 'this year'

Sainsbury's even trails The Co-operative when it comes to contactless payments

Mobile payments laggard Sainsbury's has told Computing that it will belatedly start offering contactless payments some time "this year" - well behind rival retailers.

The supermarket chain is one of the most high-profile retailers that has still to adopt contactless payment technology, despite widespread adoption by the public - where it is offered. More than £1bn was spent via contactless methods in January alone, according to the UK Cards Association.

Sainsbury's was reported to have been on the cusp of rolling out contactless technology last year, but this never materialised in-store. Computing asked Sainsbury's why, but received no information, despite several requests.

However, the company did claim that it intends to roll out support for contactless payments during 2016. "Contactless will be launching this year," was all that a Sainsbury's spokeswoman would tell us.

The company's official Twitter account, though, has promised that the company will begin "trialling" the technology in May.

But when Computing asked Sainsbury's for more information about these trials we were told the information was "incorrect".

Miya Knights, global technology research director at analyst firm Planet Retail, told Computing that the lack of contactless technology shows how "behind the curve" Sainsbury's has become.

"How important speed of service is will decide how much of a determining factor contactless is to each customer. But I can't imagine that it's helped Sainsbury's Local format of convenience stores compete," she said.

Knights added that Sainsbury's has "all the components in place" to accept contactless payments, but for reasons unknown has not turned it on.

Again Computing asked whether this was the case and why there had been such a long delay, but the company refused to provide more information.

Sainsbury's is the only major supermarket chain not able to widely offer contactless payments to customers, with Morrisons starting its roll out in mid-2015, and market leader Tesco rolling out in 2014.