Pharmacy Daily | CW bank transfer payments incentivised

CHEMIST Warehouse has announced a "win-win" opportunity for customers and businesses, with a new way to pay by direct bank transfer, securely and in real-time, instead of using a credit or debit card.

Said to be an Australian first for in-store experiences, the initiative is designed to tackle the $15 million problem of card surcharging, and can also earn customers cashbacks and rewards.

The new NAB solution, Pay by Bank, uses Australia's PayTo account-to-account functionality as an instant payments system, bypassing the high processing fees involved for businesses using traditional methods.

Chemist Warehouse currently spends around $15 million in surcharge fees each year, which it does not pass on to customers, and said having a competitive and efficient payment option is "veryappealing".

The payment system can be accessed on every Chemist Warehouse payment terminal across Australia via the ShopBack app, which also helps users earn cashback rewards while reducing the cost of transactions.

"Having more payment options means a better service and ultimately, price, for customers," said Chemist Warehouse co-founder Jack Gance.

"The simplicity, security, and low cost of Pay by Bank, layered with ShopBack's Cashback rewards, meet our business objectives and give our customers greater choice and value.

"We are proud to lead the retail industry with this innovative, all-in-one solution," he said.

Chemist Warehouse has also added QR code functionality at the instore checkout to set up and then activate the payment through a customer's phone camera.

Chemist Warehouse introduced direct bank transfer QR code payments for customers in 2024 to get the jump on the Federal Government's plan to ban surcharges by 2026.

"As retailers, we really notice the difference," Gance said in relation to the surcharges.

"It's millions of dollars extra cost that's unnecessarily paid out on top of the sale price to process the transaction," he continued.

"I think it's important that we make an incentive for customers, to make this new method available to them, and explain the benefits as providing a better, safer, cheaper method of making payments." KB