Contactless will be the new norm in the Belgian retail sector – Carrefour is the first major retailer that starts to process contactless card payments

Carrefour Belgium, Visa Europe and Worldline announced that it will be possible to pay contactless in the majority of the stores of the largest retail chain of Belgium. Worldline payment terminals in 747 stores of Carrefour Belgium (45 Carrefour Hypermarkets, plus the 437 Market and 265 Express stores) will be equipped with the Visa Paywave NFC technology (Near Field Communications) to process contactless payment cards, by the end of this year.

This is a unique momentum in the Belgian payment sector as it is the first time that a large retail store is proposing consumers to pay contactless, according to the press release. In 2010, Carrefour Belgium already had introduced contactless payment in all Hypermarkets for its own Carrefour Visa card.

“We at Carrefour Belgium focus all our action on the innovations that will facilitate the shopping habits of our customers, and contactless card acceptance is therefore at the heart of our vision to enhance the customer’s shopping experience,”said Baptiste van Outryve from Carrefour Belgium.

“Visa Europe is committed to ensuring that consumers have a simple, safe and secure way to pay and we are excited about partnering with Carrefour Belgium and Worldline to support the rollout of contactless payments in retail distribution,”stated Jean-Marie de Crayencour, Country Manager Belux for Visa Europe.

“We’re proud to have led the way in establishing contactless payments in Europe, as the milestone of 1.1 billion contactless transactions by Visa cardholders across Europe in the last 12 months has just been reached. And we’re excited to be at the forefront of it in Belgium as contactless payments become available to everyone. We hope the Belgian consumers will embrace the speed and convenience of touch-and-pay technology that is very popular in other European countries like the UK, France, Spain, Poland or the Czech Republic.”

“Contactless technology is increasingly embraced by consumers, retailers and banks. We truly believe that contactless will be the new norm in the Belgian retail sector. This is why all new Worldline payment terminals have this technology integrated as a standard”, said Willy Walraeve, CEO of Worldline Benelux. “We are excited by the move of Carrefour Belgium to go contactless, which is a first in the Belgian retail market. Worldline is confident that today’s partnership with Carrefour Belgium and Visa will support the further development of contactless payments in Belgium, thus improving the experience for both the consumer and the retailer.”