The discounter is currently testing its new Lidl Pay offer.
First self-experiments show that paying with the smartphone works as long as you don't plan to make a bulk purchase.
Heilbronn - bar, card or would you prefer to use your smartphone right away?
Lidl Pay is in the starting blocks.
The discounter is currently testing the purely digital payment option in some selected branches, as Lidl reports.
Mobile payment will soon be rolled out across Germany.
The new function in the Lidl Plus app has already been activated in a test branch in the Heilbronn area and can already be tested today.
Initial tests on its own have confirmed that Lidl Pay has the practicality that the Neckarsulm discounter wanted: the app installation process and handling at the checkout are straightforward, reports the
food newspaper
.
Payment by smartphone works via the Lidl Plus app, which has been intended to bind Lidl customers more closely to the discounter for six months with special digital offers, scratch cards and coupons.
Lidl Pay: This is how paying with the smartphone works
The new payment extension is currently only displayed in the app at the locations where the offer is actually available at the checkout - for example in Heilbronn.
In order to be able to pay with their smartphone, customers have to link the Lidl Plus app to their checking account.
In contrast to other countries such as Poland or Spain, credit cards do not work.
Lidl Pay has been available there for a long time.
"Lidl seems to want to rely completely on SEPA direct debit - which is cheaper for retailers", speculates the
supermarket blog
.
The payment service provider is Lidl Digital Trading GmbH & Co. KG.
This is how mobile payment works at Lidl: Customers who have installed Lidl Pay have to confirm the payment function once at the checkout.
Communication with the cash register takes place via a QR code on the mobile phone screen, which the customer scans.
According to information from the
food
newspaper, a risk assessment is carried out by a data service provider before the payment function is activated.
Lidl therefore carries out a credit and risk check of its customers and assigns them a payment limit.
Lidl Pay: From this amount onwards, payment with the smartphone no longer works
Customers without a purchase history therefore have a fixed limit of 50 euros, which must not be exceeded.
However, the limit should be increased with every purchase made via Lidl Pay.
The Neckarsulm-based discounter is going its own way with Lidl Pay, because most other providers prefer to rely on cooperation with Google or Apple.
