The system, which is now being tested at stores in Arkansas, home of Wal-Mart’s headquarters, will allow shoppers to pay with all major credit or debit cards through its app at the cash register. Retail giant Walmart becomes the first to present its very own payment solution which is compatible with any Android or iOS device at its checkout lane.
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Ashe said Walmart Pay will be available at select locations this month and will be launched nationwide in the first half of 2016.
Walmart customers can set their feature to prioritize the payments using for example only gift cards with say a credit card as a second payment choice.
During the checkout, you would be required to select Walmart Pay as the payment option. While the idea of paying for goods and services with smartphones has been around for years, Apple Pay helped ignite consumer interest in the area late last year, and was followed by Google’s Android Pay and the Samsung Pay systems.
Mobile payments are expected to keep growing over the next few years. Members of the Merchant Customer Exchange pledged not to accept other mobile payment systems, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Mobile continues to be a focus for retailers of every stripe, and Walmart said that almost half of its online orders over Thanksgiving weekend came from people shopping on their handheld devices. It also comes several months after Google launched the Android Pay mobile wallet app and Samsung debuted Samsung Pay. Once all the items are scanned and the total price is displayed, they can choose which payment card to use and complete their purchase from their phone. An electronic receipt is then stored on the app. For added security, users can opt to used Apple Touch ID for fingerprint enabled safety. It’s a cumbersome process compared the simplicity of Apple Pay.
This is more than just pay, the feature is being built into the existing app so customers can shop with it as well as pay with it. The retailer promises an easy experience at checkout – just open and scan.
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“(Walmart Pay) is about how we can use payment to create a better shopping experience for our customers in our stores”, said Daniel Eckert, senior vice president of services for Walmart US.
