Five Domino’s stores in Australia are going cashless as part of the retailer’s new ‘Tap & Take’ trial. Launched on Tuesday, the trial will increase convenience for customers and safety for store staff, the pizza giant said.

“Our Tap & Take stores will enable our customers to get piping hot meals faster than ever; reducing in-store queues and delivery wait times,” Nick Knight, CEO of Domino’s Australia and New Zealand, said in a statement.

“In addition to increasing convenience for our customers this new model will increase safety, with zero cash kept on the premises or carried by our delivery experts.”

The stores will continue to accept a variety of payment methods, including credit and debit cards, but customers will no longer be able to pay with cash. The trial comes as the use of cash in Australia continues to slow.

An analysis from the Reserve Bank of Australia in January found that the share of banknotes used in transactions has fallen by around 1 to 1.5 percentage points per year over the past few decades.

“We’re now heading towards a very real future where the legal tender could be solely electronic, so it’s important that we remain digitally agile and continue to meet consumer demands,” Knight said in the statement.

According to a 2018 report from NAB, the use of cash in transactions depends strongly on the cost of the purchase and the age of the buyer.

When spending less than $5, around three in four Aussies still use cash, but this goes up to nine in 10 for over 50s, and drops to just one in two for 18-29 year olds.

On its website, Domino’s advertises a single slice of cheese pizza for $5 and 8.5-inch personal pizzas for $5.95. Still, most of its transactions are already cashless since the “vast majority” of orders are processed online, according to a Domino’s spokesperson.

The stores participating in the Tap & Take trial are a mix of corporate and franchise-owned stores. They are located in Newtown, Coffs Harbour and Wauchope in New South Wales, and Calamvale and Surfers Paradise South in Queensland.

Cashless trials hit roadblock

The pizza giant joins a growing list of retailers testing cashless checkout, such as 7-Eleven and Woolworths, but unlike those trials, which are more closely modelled on Amazon’s automated Go stores, the Domino’s trial does not involve self-checkout.

Similar trials in the US have hit a roadblock, however, with some cities banning cashless stores because they discriminate against certain customers, such as the unbanked or elderly, who may not have other ways to pay.

“We’ve certainly considered that some people’s current payment preference is to use cash, which is why we are running this on a trial basis and welcome feedback from all customers, especially regarding how seamless and convenient they find this makes their Domino’s experience,” the company spokesperson told Inside Retail.

The spokesperson said the company will be closely monitoring the trial until it has enough meaningful data to make a decision for the rest of the business.

“However if successful, we will certainly look to roll out Tap & Take across our network,” they said.