M&S to roll out on-the-go phone charging service in eight stores

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Feb 4, 2019

Marks & Spencer and Founders Factory have unveiled the first startup selected for their retail start-up accelerator programme, a mobile phone battery sharing service.

ChargedUp allows users to take a power bank to charge their phone on-the-go for as long as they want. Consumers can use the service to prevent their mobiles from running out of charge while shopping before returning the battery packs at their nearest station.

The start-up, dubbed ‘The Boris Bikes of phone charging’, has already launched some 250 stations in cafes, bars and retail locations, and will add six Marks & Spencer stores to its network next month.

M&S stores in Pantheon, White City, Bankside, Victoria Cardinal Place, Fenchurch Street and Finsbury Pavement will get a ChargedUp station in February alongside those already in place in M&S Merchant Square Café and Waterside Simply Food.

Daniel Himsworth, Founders Factory Lead at Marks & Spencer, said: “We think ChargedUp is a great start-up business. Mobile phones are an essential part of today’s shopping experience and we all know how frustrating a low battery is. The ChargedUp team has a very smart idea to solve the problem and keep shoppers fully charged. We look forward to working with them.”

The start-up accelerator programme will give ChargedUp access to Founders Factory’s expertise in design, computer engineering, AI, data science and strategy with the aim of growing the business. Marks & Spencer will also invest an undisclosed sum in the start-up.