Pret offers free Wi-Fi

Pret A Manger has jumped on the free Wi-Fi bandwagon, and is set to offer a the service via The Cloud by the end of the year.

The lunch-time favourite will let its sandwich-stuffed customers access the Wi-Fi service from any of its 130 stores for free by the end of December, following a successful trial at 60 shops.

Simon Kerry, head of IT for Pret, said: "By offering it free we're giving our customers that little bit extra The benefit to Pret is that our customers are happier and that they stay with us for longer."

Indeed, the initial trial which started in April showed customers stayed at their local Pret longer, spending more, the company claimed.

The Pret move mirrors free Wi-Fi offerings from Coffee Republic and BA announced earlier this year all of which are looking to boost consumer loyalty by taking advantage of the move to mobile computing. Indeed, BT said earlier this month that Wi-Fi use on its networks had doubled in the past year.

It's not the first tech move for Pret, either, as the sandwich shop announced it would offer contactless payments last month.