Woolworths shoppers will soon have access to a digital wallet

The supermarket giant’s Everyday Pay will be linked to its popular rewards program and allow payments at check-outs.

The new digital wallet is expected to be trialled at a number of Woolworths supermarkets in the next few months. Picture: iStock

Woolworths is extending its suite of products in the high-growth fintech sector with the creation of a digital wallet that will be linked to its popular Everyday Rewards loyalty program.

Following last month’s unveiling of the supermarket giant’s new stand-alone payments system called Wpay, which aims to leverage Woolworths’ position as the nation’s fifth largest processor of card payments in Australia, it is now launching a new service.

Called “Everyday Pay”, the new digital wallet is expected to be trialled at a number of its supermarkets in the next few months - likely once the lockdowns in Melbourne and Sydney have ended.

The digital wallet will be made available in the Everyday Rewards app and will offer customers a way to pay and earn rewards points in Woolworths stores.

Using Everyday Pay, loyalty scheme members will be able to load their credit, debit and gift card details along with their payment preferences in the app.

The digital wallet will then take over when customers scan the QR codes on payment terminals at check-outs.

A spokesman for Woolworths said its new digital wallet would help streamline check-outs and speed up the shopping process.

“We know speed and ease through the checkout are increasingly important to our customers amid their busy lives. We have a team developing a new digital wallet to offer a fast, simple and secure way to pay and earn Everyday Rewards points at the same time.”

Everyday Rewards has more than 13 million members across Australia and CEO Brad Banducci is eager to build the program to cover a number of payments, data and other loyalty features.

Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci. Picture: Adam Yip

Woolworths will increasingly use the “Everyday” logo to broaden its fintech offerings, after earlier this year launching its own online marketplace, called Everyday Market.

Although the new Woolworths digital wallet has a name that recalls the popular Afterpay, there are no plans as yet for the retailer to build its own buy now, pay later product.

Mr Banducci is pursuing a strategy to create a “retail ecosystem” around the supermarket group and its retail businesses, harvesting the data and activity from billions of transactions at its bricks and mortar stores and on online platforms to grow a fintech presence.

The launch of the new Wpay service last month for other retailers and businesses has seen the supermarket giant take on the nation’s $500 billion-plus payments and clearing sector, as well as the big four banks which dominate the market for transaction services.

Wpay will allow businesses outside Woolworths to use the Wpay system rather than developing their own, or buying another platform off the shelf from a provider.