Mark & Spencer rolls out euro payment system

NEWS UK retail giant, Marks & Spencer (M&S) is set to roll out its third generation euro-compliant Epos payment system in stores across Germany and France during early 1999. The GlobalStore/SoftPOS solution, developed by ICL and VeriFone, is currently being used successfully in two Spanish outlets. Ian Chandler, manager of card and payments systems at ICL, explained that the two companies worked together to "define an interface to put in the public domain using Microsoft's ActiveStore architecture". He added that the electronic point-of-sale payment system "is part of a trading system for all European companies that can be used without having to bend the architecture for other countries". With euro capabilities in place for when the new currency arrives, Chandler explained that the complete point-of-sale system is all part of the on-going relationship with M&S. The high-street retailer already uses ICL systems in over 100 of its UK and Ireland stores. Chandler explained that ICL linked up with VeriFone because "they already had a strong presence with banks in Europe and due to specific requirements they fitted the bill".