USA Today said that the feature is Walmart’s latest bid to reduce the friction that can come from shopping in stores and better serve mobile customers, who are increasingly making up a larger portion of retailers’ customer bases. The retailer said it built Walmart Pay – instead of offering other options like Apple Pay – because it wants customers to have the freedom to use any brand of phone they want to make their purchases. “We believe Walmart pay will make the ease of mobile payment as reality for millions of Americans while improving the checkout experience for our customers”. You’ll then use your phone’s camera to scan the QR code that’s displayed on the register and you’ll be good to go. The associate scans and bags the items and it’s done.
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If you aren’t already using one of the many NFC-enabled mobile payments apps out there, Walmart has one for you to try as well.
Wal-Mart said the service will also allow adding other payment options such as mobile wallets in the future. The brilliance of Walmart Pay is that it supports almost all credit and debit cards, something competing services don’t offer.
So what is Walmart Pay?
“When Apple released Apple Pay, the idea was that we’re now moving forward with [near field communication], and that’s the way all mobile payments will be transacted”, said James Wester, a global payments expert at IDC Financial Insights.
Though their success is still far from certain, retailers are eager to create their own mobile payment systems because it will allow them to beef up their margins by avoiding credit card processing fees.
Walmart Pay follows a move that the retail king made to shun Apple Pay in its stores, and gives more light to the company’s recent moves. “The Walmart app enhances the shopping experience in Walmart stores with features including checking in to pick up and online order at a Walmart store, refilling pharmacy prescriptions and finding an item’s store location”. An electronic receipt will be sent to the app.
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The number of tap-capable mobile payment machines in the United States is expected to surpass 1.5 million this year.
