Many Retailers Hesitant About Offering Support for Apple Pay

[MacRumors]

Though Apple is launching Apple Pay with a number of high-profile retail partners including Macy's, Disney, Whole Foods, Sephora, Walgreens, and Staples, among others, there's a long list of retailers who have decided not to offer Apple Pay in their stores.

Walmart and Best Buy, for example, have been two high-profile companies that have vocally opted out, and The Daily Dot has compiled a list of several other retail outlets that have no current plans to support Apple Pay. Clothing store H&M said that it has no plans to accept Apple Pay at this time, as did high-end retailer Coach.

A Bed, Bath & Beyond spokesperson said the company was "unable to participate," while a spokesperson for retailer Belk also said "we don't have the capability to accept Apple Pay right now," suggesting the store has not adopted payment systems with NFC capabilities.

Sears, Kmart, and Publix have also said they won't be accepting Apple Pay, as has gas company BP, though BP stations may be able to accept Apple Pay in 2016.

BP spokesperson Scott Dean said the company "won't be in a position to do this in 2014, but we're working with our marketers (BP gas stations are independently owned and operated) to upgrade our retail site technology progressively over the next two years and as part of those upgrades we will be setting ourselves up to be ready for mobile payments."

Some fast food restaurants aren't on board yet either, including Pizza Hut and Chipotle, while others, like KFC, are "looking into the prospect of accepting Apple Pay" but have no timetable for support.

It's important to note that even if a retailer does not explicitly state that it offers support for Apple Pay, the Apple Pay payments system will work in any retail store that allows contactless payments via NFC. Many modern point-of-sale (PoS) systems come with NFC capabilities, and Apple is counting on regulatory changes that will require merchants to update their payment hardware over the course of the next year.

As of October 2015, merchants that do not offer support for EMV credit cards (cards that contain integrated circuits to prevent fraud) will assume responsibility for any fraudulent transactions that take place. Normally, banks assume liability, so it is in the best interest of retailers to deploy these new payment processing systems. EMV cards, or chip cards, are already used in many other countries around the world.

Though many merchants will be upgrading to new payment systems, many of which offer NFC, these upgrades take time and it may be several months before retailers decide whether or not to adopt NFC to allow them to process payments through Apple Pay.

The list of merchants not on board with Apple Pay is considerable, but contactless payments are growing in popularity and with the help of Apple Pay, the adoption of NFC systems may accelerate even faster. According to Apple, more than 220,000 retail stores across the United States will be able to accept Apple Pay.

Apple Pay is expected to roll out in October as an update to iOS 8. iOS 8.1, with hidden Apple Pay settings, has already been seeded to developers for testing.

Article Link: Many Retailers Hesitant About Offering Support for Apple Pay

 

[farewelwilliams]

they must be android users.

 

[AdonisSMU]

They just don't want my money.

 

[John.B]

Because, really, why wouldn't we want to continue to have retail credit card data security breaches, like the one at DQ that just came to light?

Why should Home Depot and Target get to have all the fun?

/sarcasm (Is this even necessary?)

 

[bpeeps]

Gonna be a long and slow road. Hopefully this doesn't end up a niche like thunderbolt / firewire / etc. I'd love to be able to just go to the grocery store, pick up a few things, flash my phone and be done. But it's a ways from getting there yet.

 

[jlake02]

If I have the choice between 2 very similar businesses, I will opt for the one that uses Pay. Bring on the future, America. Get out of the plastic past!

 

[motulist]

Why wouldn't they?

 

[bdkennedy1]

McDonald's owns Chipotle. How can Chipotle not be on board?

 

[paul55br]

I understand. They are skeptical. Give them some time, they'll come around.

 

[tod]

Sears and Kmart will be dead and gone within two years, so it hardly matters...

 

[Jakexb]

Really looking forward to seeing the Walmart/Bestbuy app crashing and burning. Have to link it with your checking account? Have to open up the app and show a QR code?

Good luck.

 

[Paradoxally]

$10 says they will implement Pay before the end of next holiday period.

Convenience comes before everything in retail purchases. No one wants to wait more than 3 minutes in line to purchase something.

 

[netnothing]

It's important to note that even if a retailer does not explicitly state that it offers support for Apple Pay, the Apple Pay payments system will work in any retail store that allows contactless payments via NFC. Many modern point-of-sale (PoS) systems come with NFC capabilities, and Apple is counting on regulatory changes that will require merchants to update their payment hardware over the course of the next year.

This is interesting and something I wasn't really aware of. I kind of assumed that Apple Pay, while using NFC, still needed special backend stuff to work.

If this is the case, moving forward should be possible and helped that installing NFC capabilities in stores isn't an Apple only thing.

-Kevin

 

[Jakexb]

McDonald's owns Chipotle. How can Chipotle not be on board?

I think it's independent now.

 

[Zxxv]

Dear Apple

Just roll it out in the UK, we are ready. We have the NFC terminals. Bring it. Let the US see what they are missing. Let them see how its done. Make them feel inadequate. They don't like that feeling. It'll make them rush to implement it quicker.

 

[KPOM]

McDonald's owns Chipotle. How can Chipotle not be on board?

They spun off their stake in Chipotle a few years ago.

 

[PFKMan23]

*shrug* Given that I patronize business that are cash only, I'm not sure how this changes things. And eh.... "Apple is counting on regulatory changes"... Still sounds liking hedging.

 

[Amadeo]

Speaking from experience of working in the retail marketing space, the single biggest reason why it'll be quite a long time before NFC/Apple Pay is ubiquitous, is because of cost. People seem to think it's as easy as flipping a switch to support a new payment format. It's not. It requires an upending of the point-of-sale infrastructure. Not that they shouldn't invest in the future, but it's an EXTREMELY expensive endeavor. It's tough enough for some retailers to even change the way their receipts print out. Changing the kinds of technologies they accept for payment...

We've got a long road ahead of us.

 

[winston1236]

they must be android users.

Or they know that regardless of whether Apple Pay takes off or crashes they know you will still pay them.

 

[jcmeyer5]

It's important to note that even if a retailer does not explicitly state that it offers support for Apple Pay, the Apple Pay payments system will work in any retail store that allows contactless payments via NFC.

THIS I found interesting. A lot of the places that I shop have this. I am excited to see how it works. I have never had a NFC payment method before!

 

[twigman08]

This is not going just to happen immediately. I do not expect companies to just all of a sudden upgrade their Point of Sale Systems. It is just how it is right now and what we talked about before: At this time in the US NFC just is not popular, except in a select few places.

 

[Paradoxally]

Speaking from experience of working in the retail marketing space, the single biggest reason why it'll be quite a long time before NFC/Apple Pay is ubiquitous, is because of cost. People seem to think it's as easy as flipping a switch to support a new payment format. It's not. It requires an upending of the point-of-sale infrastructure. Not that they shouldn't invest in the future, but it's an EXTREMELY expensive endeavor. It's tough enough for some retailers to even change the way their receipts print out. Changing the kinds of technologies they accept for payment...

We've got a long road ahead of us.

Well, these big companies spend more on marketing so that's just a shift in priorities than lack of funds.

 

[TC400]

McDonald's owns Chipotle. How can Chipotle not be on board?

Right from Chipolte's website.

"There is a popular misconception that Chipotle restaurants are owned by McDonalds. While they were once an investor in our company, they divested in 2006 and our company went public on the New York Stock Exchange that year."

 

[OneMike]

they must be android users.

except that android already has NFC for most devices so that wouldn't really make sense.

 

[teknikal90]

american express has been around forever and isnt accepted everywhere. what makes apple think it can come in and do an exponentially better job?