Pick n Pay has introduced tap-and-go technology in its stores, and the JSE-listed retailer says this will significantly reduce queues at tills.

Contactless card payments do not require consumers to swipe cards, enter PIN numbers or give their signatures. Shoppers need only tap their cards against the card readers for payments to be processed.

Pick n pay said on Monday the service is now live in-store and available at all till points throughout its store network for both Visa and Mastercard bank cards for payments under R200.

In September, Pick n Pay revealed that it was testing the efficiency of self-service checkout machines at one store in Cape Town.

Pick n Pay will be the first major retailer in SA to introduce contactless card payments. Such transactions are popular with customers across the world.

In Europe alone, more than 3-billion contactless transactions were processed in the past 12 months. The service is also widely used in Australia, New Zealand the US, Singapore and the UK.

Pick n Pay deputy CEO Richard van Rensburg said a contactless transaction can be up to 30% faster than a normal authenticated card transaction.

"It’s really easy to use – you just tap or hover your credit card above the terminal, confirm the amount and the transaction is processed immediately," said Van Rensburg.

"After a number of years of significant investment, our systems have reached a level of maturity where we are able to introduce an increasing array of innovations that make shopping at Pick n Pay cheaper and more convenient."

Most cards issued by the major banks are already contactless enabled, but until now customers have been unable to use this facility at major retailers.

Innovation and modernisation are critical in Pick n Pay’s turnaround strategy.

In the 26 weeks to August 28, the retailer invested R775.8m on capital expenditure. It said the majority of its capital investment for the rest of the year would be focused on the expansion and refurbishment of stores to improve the customers’ shopping experience.

All new and refurbished group-owned stores have been opened under the Next Generation blueprint. This model is underpinned by improvements in technology, management structures and minimum operating standards.