Barclaycard Introduces Wearable Payment Technology

‘Tap and pay’ gloves are latest experiment in contactless payment options.

December 22, 2014

LONDON – U.K. bank Barclays is testing a new “gadget glove” that allows shoppers to pay for goods with a wave of their hand.

“The ‘pay gloves’ we’re trialing are designed to let shoppers ‘tap, pay and go’ even when their hands are full of shopping,” Mike Saunders, managing director of digital consumer payments at Barclaycard told the Daily Star U.K.

“At some point, most of us have experienced the stress of holding bags full of shopping while trying to find a spare hand to get our card out of our purse or wallet to pay,” he continued. "Some may have even been subjected to frustration from those piling up in the queue behind them … So when people told us that being able to pay with gloves would take some of the stress out of their Christmas shopping, we wanted to respond positively to shoppers’ demand.”

The glove is intended to be easier than other contactless options in that customers don’t need to put anything down to search for their phone or wallet to make a payment. The glove is embedded with an electric chip that is linked to the user’s credit and/or debit card. The glove currently only allows for payments up to £20 (about $30 U.S.). Barclays hopes its payment glove will be available for use in late 2015.

Meanwhile, Business Review Europe writes that some immediate questions raise doubts as to whether wearable technology will catch on. “For instance, the first thing many shoppers do on entering a store is remove gloves, while most of the year it is warm enough to go without gloves entirely. … There is also the concern with contactless that people may end up accidentally paying for things they did not intend to buy, or at least the fear that this could happen,” says the news source.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement