Carrefour, a French multinational retailer, has chosen Gemalto to deploy a mobile-payment product for its banking card in Spain, according to a press release.

Market Pay is part of a multichannel strategy that is intended to leverage connected technologies to further enhance the shopping experience, according to the announcement. Carrefour is using Gemalto’'s Allynis Trusted Service Hub that will enable consumers to load a digital version of their existing Carrefour banking card, as well as the retailer loyalty program, onto an Android phone.

Loyalty points will be credited instantly when the phone is used for 'tap and go' transactions in Carrefour outlets, which include hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores.

Carrefour customers will be able to create this new payment feature directly through their Carrefour mobile banking application, simply using their existing credentials. Today in Spain, 2.3 millions of customers are using Carrefour payment cards. Carrefour will launch Market Pay initially in Spain, and may be deployed in other countries.

"Carrefour is committed to a strategy that marries the physical and digital domains, placing the smartphone at the very heart of our customer offer -, in the shops and online," said Frédéric Mazurier, Market Pay CEO. "Mobile payments are a key element of this approach, and Gemalto's expertise, experience and global reach provide a perfect fit for our current and future requirements."