UK retailer Marks & Spencer will shortly launch a mobile payments trial using an app called Paddle developed by UK start-up Highgate Labs.

The app will enable users in selected M&S coffee shops to pay by scanning a barcode using their mobile handset, according to a report in the Independent. Customers can choose and then purchase items while sitting at their tables.

According to the Paddle website, the technology offers a means for secure online and mobile payments. Card details are encrypted and stored in the cloud along with delivery addresses (in the case of purchases made online) so the user does not have to input them again.

Users pay where they see a “Pay with Paddle” button, said the website. It adds “some fantastic retailers will be adding Paddle to their websites over the next few weeks”, although no mention is made of M&S, nor its physical trial in the coffee shop. The Paddle app is available for iOS and Android.