Apple Pay Usage Declined on Black Friday Over Last Year Per New Study

[Ronlap]

I carry a handful of "affinity" cards that award bonus points when used at specific stores, gas stations, and travel vendors. It is much faster to pop the right card out of my wallet than it is to search for it within Apple Pay. Add to that the fact that Touch ID and I are not BFF, and there is no contest against physical cards.

 

[unplugme71]

Well, here is the thing with this survey. November 2014, the iPhone 6/6+ were the only devices with it, and it was only a month old (3 months for the phone). Today, there are 14 months worth of iPhone 6/6+ sales, Apple Watches, and iPhone 6s/6s+ sales. In other words, a larger pool of "eligible" transactions.

What are the raw numbers? How many transactions? Did it go from 100,000 to 1 million, but represent a decline % wise? And what defines an "Apple Pay" eligible transaction? Every transaction made at Apple Pay accepting stores, regardless if the customer has an Apple Pay ready device?

Lots of questions, very light on the facts, and the facts provided tell us almost nothing.

Finally someone who's smart enough to question the news and not agree with it because it must be factual if the news reported it.

Nobody writes in-depth articles to fully understand what's happening. They paint the article to make Apple Pay look like it isn't catching on. When in fact, it clearly is. Look how many banks are accepting it each quarter. Look how many retailers have been added on. A LOT! Once iPhone sales with Apple Pay or Watch increases, we'll see more purchases made. The retailers also need to do a better job of marking the acceptance so its less confusing.

 

[BruiserB]

But it is still slower, because you are still holding out your wallet/purse to put your card back versus just putting it away after a swipe. When your "average joe" user is complaining about the experience then you know that there is something wrong.

Exactly. And ApplePay gives an experience more similar to what people are used to. You can usually scan your phone while the cashier is still ringing things up and put it away before the end of the transaction. Even when you have to wait for the total, it's just a momentary thing with the phone. Sure the time for approval is still there, but it isn't happening with you staring at the terminal waiting for permission to remove your card. Apple (and Google, Samsung, etc) should take advantage of the "average joe" frustration and point out that NFC eliminates this. That would put pressure on the retailers to eliminate this frustration when customers start asking why the NFC is turned off.

 

[ptb42]

But it is still slower, because you are still holding out your wallet/purse to put your card back versus just putting it away after a swipe. When your "average joe" user is complaining about the experience then you know that there is something wrong.

You will just have to get over yourself. In order to secure the connection between your card and your card issuer (via the transaction processor), the card has to remain in the reader. Otherwise, it is vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle attack.

The US is finally catching up to the rest of the world, although we don't have to enter a PIN (yet). Once people get used to inserting the card instead of fumbling with a mag-stripe swipe first and trying to find the slot, the net transaction time will be nearly the same.

 

[69Mustang]

It's beyond frustrating because I can never remember which stores take it and which don't.

All these places have the NFC readers but only like 10% take Apple Pay. Even places like Best Buy, not all of their stores take it.

Bad job by Apple not getting this out to more customers. Why hasn't Starbucks signed up? Why haven't any grocery stores signed up?

I've only used it at BB, GameStop, McDs, and Panera Bread.

There's a pizza place that has Apple stickers everywhere saying they take it, but they don't have an NFC card reader. How is that possible? How can I report this to Apple?

You're frustrated because you seem to have a poor understanding of the situation. Apple has basically done all they can do to make Apple Pay available. More and more banks have shored up their backend to support Apple Pay. The financial side of the infrastructure is there. The retail side is the sticking point. Here's the point you have to understand: Apple has absolutely no control over which retailers support NFC. Apple can't "get this out to more customers" because they're not Apple's customers.

What exactly are you going to report to Apple? A store has Apple stickers but doesn't accept Apple Pay yet? As if Apple would go after a pizza place. Corporate giant bullies small biz over stickers. Optics are not good.

Apple Pay's slow adoption seems pretty simple to me. There's a significant investment required by the potential customer (phone and/or watch) and an investment required by the retailer (new terminal). Early adopters tend to view things through a myopic lens of "I see the benefit, why can't everyone else?" The general public just doesn't care right now, as evidenced by the survey showing 97% not using it. Caveat being it's a statistical survey so take the accuracy with a grain of salt. Point being, most are comfortable doing what they've always done.

 

[GeneralChang]

Why haven't any grocery stores signed up?

Mine has. Not to rub it in, but... well actually, yeah. There was no reason to comment on this if not to rub it in.

Sorry.

 

[BruiserB]

I carry a handful of "affinity" cards that award bonus points when used at specific stores, gas stations, and travel vendors. It is much faster to pop the right card out of my wallet than it is to search for it within Apple Pay. Add to that the fact that Touch ID and I are not BFF, and there is no contest against physical cards.

I have the same, but have the opposite experience. I simply make my most used affinity card my default ApplePay card. Currently that's my new Discover card because 22% cash back on any ApplePay purchase beats any other offer. But perhaps you aren't aware of the shortcuts to get to different cards. You don't have to open the Wallet app before selecting an alternate card. Just quickly double click the home button while your phone is locked and not near the NFC reader (don't give it time to read your fingerprint or it will unlock). That will bring up your default card. Just flick it downwards and then all of your cards will show and select the one you want. Then put your finger on the TouchID and put it up to the terminal. That gets pretty easy to do after you get used to it. If you are searching for the Wallet app and then selecting the card, I agree that's very cumbersome.

As far as improving your relationship with TouchID, I'd suggest programming your main finger more than once. In my case I saved my right thumb as 2 different fingers. That increases the chances of success. Also a seasonal update of finger scans can be useful. If you live in a place with big differences in seasonal humidity then your prints will change through the year. Maybe you've already tried these hints, but just trying to be helpful in case you weren't aware of them.

 

[azentropy]

I've used it from time to time, but it is still really inconsistent. Bashas (an Arizona grocery store) is where I've had the best luck. Each time I've used it at Trader Joes (previously with iPhone 6 and then with Apple Watch) it still makes me sign! One time couldn't get it to work at all. The main grocery store I go to, Frys which also is where I usually get gas, doesn't have it. What good is that?

Too many other places where I'd like to use it instead of cash just don't seem have it so you don't get into the habit of using it. Over the last month or so I've gone to lunch at Kneaders, Paradise Bakery, Wendy's, Quiznos, Barros Pizza and none of them had it.

 

[BruiserB]

How would this survey know the split of non NFC payments made by Apple users vs Android users? I can understand that they can tell the difference between ApplePay and Android/Samsung Pay, but for people who just pay with a credit card or cash, how do they know what kind of phone they carry? Seems like some fishy statistical methods were used. And as already pointed out, graphing this as a % of eligible ApplePay transactions is misleading. I'd rather see total number of transactions.

 

[jpgr15]

<deleted>

 

[bkaus]

New contact terminals make it possible to pay by just taping your credit card on the terminal. It takes about a second. Service is available in most stores in my area. How can it be faster and more convinient? On other hand here in Canada Apple made an arrangement with credit card that is more like a zebra. So no real Apple Pay for now.

Not faster than a NFC enabled card, but NFC enabled card is constantly able to be queried (unless in RF blocking pouch) and a iPhone/Apple Watch is not. The security thing tips it for me.

 

[6836838]

Apple eventually want to REPLACE credit cards. Why in the future would we need an underlying credit card. I think being mindful of this may help us understand the reluctance in many cases.

It's also useless in purchases over £30 (at least here in the UK).

 

[nightcap965]

I'm still educating merchants regarding Apple Pay. I recently had a supermarket request to see my credit card so the clerk could compare signatures. I politely declined, as it is against my state's consumer protection laws to add conditions to payment methods.

I also wish more merchants accepted it. One supermarket does, another does not. My pharmacy does not, some pharmacies do.

 

[Max Portakabin]

American consumers are to blame for this. You've all been brainwashed in excusing big business because anything else equals communism that American companies can do what they like.

Want to spend your hard-earned money here? Sure but we'll only take it in a way that benefits us.

How have we got into this situation. Businesses should be offering all payment options and view a lack of support for one as lost sales. I'm certainly not going into a store and digging for another method of payment if they don't accept the one I want to pay with. I'll go somewhere that does.

Market forces, surely?

 

[617aircav]

Apple Pay does not feel natural to me. If I have to think about which stores take it and which don't it's better to pull out the plastic. Samsung pay is better since it does not require nfc and will work everywhere.

 

[jomuyo]

For me I have been doing most of my Black Friday/Holiday buying on various retailer's websites, and rarely visited their physical stores this year. There were also a lot of good pre-Black Friday sales that were available both online and in store, and a lot of retailers were releasing their Black Friday sales online first before they were available in store. I would like to see compare this Apple Pay data with the online shopping numbers over the same period.

Personally both Apple Pay and EMV chip cards are missing from the online shopping scene. Sure we can download apps for all the retailers we frequent, but that becomes quite tedious. I often prefer to do all my shopping on one app (i.e. a web browser) then switching through a hand full of apps. Plus I still prefer to do my online shopping on my Macs, simply because of the larger screen real estate, and also because the mobile versions of the websites are often too limited.

I would like Apple to bring Apple Pay to the Mac, and increase the 8 card limit too (once you include store cards it can add up). Then include a public API that will allow web browsers and websites to work with Apple Pay. To top off this particular pipe dream, Apple could also create an API that will allow a USB card reader and a EMV card to pay for online purchases.

 

[phinsup]

I own a retail store and we have been waiting on the terminals for 6 months, pre ordered and pre paid, but still waiting. However they do provide insurance while we are waiting that covers us if we run a chipped card on the magnetic swipe.

Also another thing I have noticed, when I first got apple pay almost every NFC terminal accepted it, after about 3 months places like Home Depot had turned theirs off. I was using mine a couple of times a week at home depot, now I can't use it.

 

[NissanGuy23]

And yet Santander still doesn't support Apple Pay so i will continue to not use it (when i would otherwise).

 

[jomuyo]

Apple Pay does not feel natural to me. If I have to think about which stores take it and which don't it's better to pull out the plastic. Samsung pay is better since it does not require nfc and will work everywhere.

Agreed, I have a Coin card for the same reason. On the other hand, the Coin card (gen 1 at least) and Samsung Pay (non-NFC transactions) both rely on insecure magnetic stripe technology, which is on its way out. Granted it may take a decade or so before it happens, but it will happen. Secondly both the Coin card and Samsung Pay work great on POS's that allow customers to swipe their cards. When an employee has to do the swiping, this when the convenience breaks down. With the Coin card I often have to reassure the employee that it is a real card, and hope that they don't swipe the card too fast. With Samsung Pay (non-NFC mode), you would have to give your phone to the employee, and walk them though the process. I have seen the Samsung Pay commercials, and I can assure everyone that having the employee simply slide over the POS so that you can place your phone over it will almost never happen.

 

[zorinlynx]

It's beyond frustrating because I can never remember which stores take it and which don't.

All these places have the NFC readers but only like 10% take Apple Pay. Even places like Best Buy, not all of their stores take it.

After having Apple Pay fail mysteriously at various stores that have supposedly compatible readers, I pretty much gave up on using it. Wasting my time trying to Apple Pay, then having to get my card out anyway is not my style. I do still use it at a couple stores where I KNOW it works reliably, like Walgreens and McDonald's, but that's about it.

Apple really should have worked with retailers more to make sure this tech is reliable before releasing it.

 

[laurim]

I ask "Do you take ApplePay" and the majority of the time its either, "what is that" or "sorry no, we have not been setup yet". The terminals look like they have been there for many years. I use it where its available from both a watch and a phone but its hard to find places that take the service and hard to find cashiers that know what button to press to make the terminal ready for the payment. Walgreens, Subway and a few others are consistently good. I'm sticking with this hoping it will be more widespread. I have a feeling with the slow process that chips have added to cards more people and stores will be willing to accept a payment process that for me would be faster at checkout. They need to stop with all the extras after contactless payments though if they want this to be faster. I scan my phone in some stores only to be asked questions and asked for a signature. No need for that when I had to use bio-metrics to approve to begin with.

I agree. Apple hasn't done a great job getting retailers prepared to accept Pay. I am dying to use it more and even email the managers of the stores I use regularly to push them to accept it, and accept it correctly. My grocery store accepts it but still requires a signature and occasionally a cashier asks for the card to verify the signature. That stopped after I complained to the manager that a signature shouldn't even be necessary and warned that I would refuse to show my card to make the point (because theoretically I wouldn't have the card with me). My liquor store manager said they were looking into it months ago and they have gotten new terminals since then but they still don't take it. Last time I was there, the cashier said he heard the software implementation is complicated. I find that hard to believe since many taxis in Chicago take Pay and I don't consider them very sophisticated enterprises. Maybe the credit card processing companies have a more direct relationship with retailers and Apple should encourage THEM to teach/incentivize their clients to upgrade their systems.

 

[laurim]

What is really worst is the general training, and implementation. It's not just which store has Apple Pay (NFC), its also WHO you are dealing with at the time when you visit the store. I have been using Apple Pay at this particular store for about five times now. Every time I say I want to do Apple Pay I get, "No, we don't take Apple Pay here". And I have to say "Yes, you do. I did it with your manager just last time (which I really did the first time)." Then they will let me try and it will always work. This is not one of those mom and pop store that I'm talking about, this is a one of the biggest store.

The general lack of widespread implementation is annoying.

This is why I use it as often as I can. I always joke I'm an  evangelist so why not, lol. I just used my Watch as my boarding pass at the Palm Springs airport and it was the first time for the Delta gate agent. So I taught her how to scan it with their particular scanner, which was different than the ones I typically see but it worked. When there's a long line and I don't know the store I use a card to keep the line moving but if I'm the only one in line I'll take the time to try to use Pay and teach the cashier about it and why it's more secure, if they ask.

 

[valkraider]

I use Pay all the time. But I didn't shop on Black Friday. The shopping I did do on Thanksgiving, Saturday and Sunday was very limited and all online.

However I have used Pay twice today already.

I am still annoyed that it used to work at Home Depot and they turned it off.

I use Apple Pay at our local grocery stores (two different ones accept it), McDonalds, Walgreens, A local video game store, Starbucks, another local coffee shop, a couple vending machines at work, and a few other places I can't remember right now...

I even used it at a tiny grocery store in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere rural southern Utah... Totally surprised me that they supported it!

Retailers need to get on board - there is nothing else Apple can do here - I mean 800 banks support Pay now... What else can Apple do besides run ads?

 

[laurim]

I use Pay all the time. But I didn't shop on Black Friday. The shopping I did do on Thanksgiving, Saturday and Sunday was very limited all online.

However I have used Pay twice today already.

I am still annoyed that it used to work at Home Depot and they turned it off.

I use Apple Pay at our local grocery stores (two different ones accept it), McDonalds, Walgreens, A local video game store, Starbucks, another local coffee shop, a couple vending machines at work, and a few other places I can't remember right now...

Retailers need to get on board - there is nothing else Apple can do here - I mean 800 banks support Pay now... What else can Apple do besides run ads?

I think Apple can work with the credit processing companies (the ones that provide the terminals and the software to make Pay work) to increase the implementation. They probably already are but you and I know how hard it is to get businesses to upgrade their software 😉 They don't want to risk downtime if they don't upgrade correctly and if they are small they don't have an IT person that will ensure it happens properly. I think that's why it's important for us, the consumer, to make sure retailers know it's important to us for them to get with the program.

 

[samcraig]

I don't think a lot of checkout people even know honestly what they do take or not in terms of mobile payments. I just try and use my device - and if it works, great. If not, I whip out the credit card.