Woolworths is relying on people’s familiarity with QR codes to encourage them to bypass the likes of Mastercard and Visa and link their bank accounts directly to the retailer’s app.

From tomorrow, Big W and Woolies customers will be presented with a unique QR code at checkouts which they can scan with their smartphones. Receipts will be automatically sent to the customers through the Everyday Rewards app.

“Everyday Pay” has been built by Woolworth’s payment arm Wpay, and may soon expand to other retailers within the Wpay environment. It combines its rewards system with payment.

“We know speed, ease and contactless payment at the checkout is important to our customers as they lead increasingly busy lives,” Everyday managing director Hannah Ross said.

“Everyday Pay from Everyday Rewards has been designed with this need top of mind.

“By integrating the ease of QR code payments, with our Everyday Rewards app, we can save customers time at the checkout and help ensure they never miss a rewards point again.”

“This is about payment and an ‘other’ — payment and loyalty, or payment and gifting,” said Paul Monnington, managing director of Wpay. (Pictured above with Woolies CEO Brad Banducci).

More than $50 billion in payments passes through Woolworths and Big W annually, via over 1.3 billion transactions.