Paying with Bizum Pay at Mercadona is becoming a reality in more and more stores across the supermarket chain in Spain. The company has been testing Bizum Pay payments for months at select stores in the province of Soria and plans to gradually roll out the service to more locations throughout October, according to company sources who spoke to ABC.
However, there is no specific date set for when this payment method is expected to be available at all its stores. Mercadona already allowed the use of Bizum for online payments on its website, but now, thanks to the launch of Bizum Pay, the service can also be used to pay at physical stores using a cell phone.
Mercadona is not the only major retailer offering direct payment from a bank account via Bizum Pay at its physical stores; according to a report in Expansión, Inditex, IKEA, Carrefour, Eroski, Alcampo, Burger King, and Lidl are also adopting this new payment method, which can already be used at more than 1.7 million locations throughout Spain, and El Corte Inglés plans to introduce it shortly.
How Bizum Pay Works
This payment method, an alternative to Visa, Mastercard, and Amex cards, will allow customers to pay for their purchases in physical stores using their cell phones directly from their bank accounts via the Bizum Pay app by holding their phone near the store’s payment terminal.
Once the app is downloaded, to use Bizum Pay, you’ll need to have the Bizum service activated at a participating bank (12 Spanish banks have already joined the service) and set the app as the default wallet on your device. The process of enabling payments from a Bizum account is still being rolled out among major retailers.
Furthermore, the app functions as a virtual wallet to which bank cards can also be added as payment methods, making it possible to use it at stores that have not yet activated the direct payment service from a bank account.