Swiss retailer Migros plans to launch a service whereby shoppers can pay for goods using their mobile phones, according to an interview with CEO Herbert Bolliger by Schweiz am Sonntag.

The retailer has the capability for the project — it is one of the country’s largest companies and runs its own bank, which has been tasked with the project of developing a mobile payment service.

The idea is the payment system will work not just in Migros’ own stores but other shops too, said Bolliger. Likewise, the service should work with other bank accounts, not just its own.

However, leading m-pay contender Swisscom has struggled to make an impact with its Tapit service. Users can make NFC-based payments using Tapit at the point-of-sale. However, it has had a sluggish take-up, according to the report, as it lacks support from credit card firms.

Swisscom’s service launched on 1 July. At the time, it was thought that operator rivals Orange and Sunrise would follow suit by piggybacking on the Tapit system. But they have postponed launch plans.

Supermarket Coop still backs the Tapit service, although the report attributed this to the possible influence of Hansueli Loosli, who chairs Coop and Swisscom. Migros was originally tagged as a Tapit supporter but that no longer seems to be the case.

Local financial institutions, concerned about Swisscom’s move, are working on their own service, under the code name of SwissAlps. Apparently there have been talks with Apple.