Tesco app

In today’s smartphone-obsessed society, it’s hard to find a grocery retailer that doesn’t have an app. Whether you want to order your weekly shop on your mobile, pay without the hassle of using your credit card or simply can’t find the ketchup in your local store – as Apple says, “there’s an app for that”.

It’s easy to dismiss many of these apps as gratuitous. Some companies seem so desperate to cater for mobile-savvy consumers they are forgetting to assess whether their offering caters for a genuine need.

Take the Ubamarket app publicised last week. The technology is undoubtedly clever – it uses barcodes to show customers where products can be found in stores. But the first location of its rollout – four Budgens stores in the Cotswolds – may raise some eyebrows. A navigational app may be useful in a hypermarket, but do you really need one in your local convenience store? Just how difficult is it to find the marmalade in a c-store? And if you struggle with that, how well are you going to cope with downloading the app?

The logic behind Tesco’s PayQwiq app may appear similarly questionable. The supermarket decided to extend the trial of its app, which allows customers to pay at the checkout using their mobile phones, to 600 stores last week. Using the app simply to pay is unlikely to be any quicker than using contactless, which is available across all Tesco branches. And, if you are wedded to the idea of using your mobile as a form of payment, there are plenty of other apps such as Apple Pay that can be used beyond your local Tesco store.

But the fact Tesco has widened the trial – which initially started at just 50 stores – shows it must be receiving some positive feedback. And although it sounds similar to other, existing services, PayQwiq offers a number of key USPs: at £250, the transaction limit is far higher than the £30 currently in place for contactless. Plus, the ability to use the app as a Clubcard, removing the need to carry both a payment and a loyalty card, will resonate with consumers looking for a one-tap transaction. Other retailers clearly agree it’s an avenue worth pursuing; Sainsbury’s is trialling its own version of PayQwiq, while Waitrose is testing a ‘scan-as-you-shop’ offering that should save you queuing time at the till.

As all these apps are still in trial phase, it is difficult to gauge whether their development is primarily driven by retailer or consumer demand. But the fact supermarkets are willing to invest in this technology does suggest there is some form of gap in the market for a more efficient in-store experience. Most shoppers have one thing in common: they want to complete their grocery shop in as short a time as possible. Anything that can shave a few seconds off the experience – even if it is simply removing the need to scan your Clubcard – may well appeal to shoppers. So although these apps may seem like an unnecessary gimmick at the moment, they could become a vital differentiator in the future.