The Home Depot and H-E-B Finally Rolling Out Apple Pay in Stores

[MacRumors]

The Home Depot has finally caved and started rolling out the ability to pay with Apple Pay and other tap-to-pay payment methods at some of its U.S. stores in recent weeks, according to a photo shared by the blog Appleosophy.

The home improvement retailer has not officially announced that it accepts Apple Pay, so it is unclear which stores offer it. In a social media post earlier this year, the company said it was "evaluating a number of new payment methods, including a number of mobile payments," but it had yet to make any "permanent decisions."

The Home Depot was one of the largest remaining Apple Pay holdouts since it dropped support for the service in 2015. Another was Texas-based grocery store chain H-E-B, which is also gradually starting to accept Apple Pay this month.

In a press release this week, H-E-B said it will begin rolling out the ability to pay with Apple Pay and other tap-to-pay methods at all of its stores throughout October. The company's other chains Central Market and Joe V's Smart Shop already began accepting Apple Pay earlier this year, and now it will be accepted in actual H-E-B stores.

Walmart is now one of the only major retailers in the U.S. that still does not accept Apple Pay.

Article Link: The Home Depot and H-E-B Finally Rolling Out Apple Pay in Stores

 

[danbuter]

Finally! I'm not sure why it took so long.

 

[vertsix]

Finally! I'm not sure why it took so long.

Merchant fees from banks.

 

[munpip214]

Time for Walmart to realize no one wants to scan a screen

 

[tyrnnsrs]

What's the reluctance here for this? Generally the fees are the same whether its tap or pin payments. At least here in Canada it is.

 

[tyrnnsrs]

Not to mention the benefits that come from moving customers through checkout faster. Plus you can only use this for smaller payments anyways (eg. < $100-200)

 

[jicon]

Is calling this 'Apple Pay' the right terminology? This is just tap to pay, no? Just one is using the NFC in a device (Watch or phone of any vendor), instead of on card, and then it works.

 

[alphaswift]

It blows my mind that Americans don't have tap everywhere. I hear stories of swipe and sign still existing and it really is astonishing.

 

[GMShadow]

Time for Walmart to realize no one wants to scan a screen

They deliberately order card reader terminals with the NFC hardware removed, I doubt they're going to change course any time soon.

 

[arduino]

Every Home Depot I've been to does not support Tap at all, glad they're doing this though

 

[b0nd18t]

Noticed this about a week ago and was very happy. Last place I go to regularly that didn’t have this.

 

[AnamanFan]

Home Depot's delay of NFC feels more about having a contract with a hardware and/or software suppliers that don't support tap-to-pay. Not concisely forbidding the method, but picked a vendor that wasn't supporting it.

Unlike Walmart who is (was?) actively investing in an internal system and use their market power to minimize merchant fees.

 

[ocyrus]

Every Home Depot I've been to does not support Tap at all, glad they're doing this though

Yes thats what this entire article is about.....

 

[The_Gream]

Merchant fees from banks.

Merchant fees didn’t really change. Though both master card and visa generally now only take 2% vs 3% when you use Apple Wallet or another biometric locked wallet as it tends to be less fraud.

 

[Madmic23]

What's the reluctance here for this? Generally the fees are the same whether its tap or pin payments. At least here in Canada it is.

The US feels like it’s 20 years behind on payment options. Some places still have you sign a piece of paper for credit card transactions. Most restaurants I’ve been to still take your card and walk away from the table for payment instead of just bringing you a credit/debit machine. When I visit the US, I feel like I’m going back in time.

 

[Hamsterhjulet]

Wait, so Apple Pay can’t be used in every store in America? In Denmark you’re able to use Apple Pay in every store, cafe, restaurant etc. and you have been able to for many years.

 

[emulator]

Time for Walmart to realize no one wants to scan a screen

Right, the world's largest B&M retailer (with Sams) will follow...

The US feels like it’s 20 years behind on payment options. Some places still have you sign a piece of paper for credit card transactions. Most restaurants I’ve been to still take your card and walk away from the table for payment instead of just bringing you a credit/debit machine. When I visit the US, I feel like I’m going back in time.

Not sure where you go but around here, every table in the restaurants have a terminal to do everything on your own. Just as all the places are contactless (even Walmart though you have to use their app) so your 20 yr analogy is pretty dumb.

 

[tyrnnsrs]

Same with here in Canada. I rarely take out my wallet anymore.

 

[jaytv111]

Merchant fees from banks.

There’s no additional fees for merchants. It’s flat whether it’s chip or contactless (EMV). Swipe’s a bit different because if you only took swipes you’d take on fraud liability, however if you do take EMV, swipe still has to be a fall-back to EMV, the fraud liability shift is when you’re swipe only, which is very rare these days.

To a merchant it’s no different if you use chip, contactless card, or phone. The only reason there are hold outs like Walmart still is that Walmart wants you to use Walmart Pay, which lets them advertise their credit card front and center, and they want you on their card where they can capture the merchant fee from themselves (Actually every store is like that now when they have their own credit cards, but Walmart goes the extra mile with its Walmart Pay stuff).

 

[Joe Rossignol]

Is calling this 'Apple Pay' the right terminology? This is just tap to pay, no? Just one is using the NFC in a device (Watch or phone of any vendor), instead of on card, and then it works.

Sure, but you're on an Apple blog, so of course we'll focus on Apple Pay.

 

[mkartano]

Wait, so Apple Pay can’t be used in every store in America? In Denmark you’re able to use Apple Pay in every store, cafe, restaurant etc. and you have been able to for many years.

Yep, surprising... Same here in Finland.. You can pay with Google Pay, Apple Pay, Garmin pay etc.. everywhere. If store accept's card (actually many places do not take cash, only card), Apple Pay works.

 

[poematik13]

Lol only took like 10 years

 

[jaytv111]

Wait, so Apple Pay can’t be used in every store in America? In Denmark you’re able to use Apple Pay in every store, cafe, restaurant etc. and you have been able to for many years.

It’s like 90% of the time, it’s there, but a few major stores decided to not allow phone payments ever, but Home Depot is one of the few of those remaining (HEB was already moving this way), and it will be just Walmart left, and Walmart does it because they have Walmart Pay and they want you to use that instead of Apple Pay, probably to advertise their credit card mostly. Walmart’s after the merchant fee they have to pay for every card transaction so if they can get you off Apple Pay, onto Walmart Pay, and convince you to get their credit card, they save the merchant fee.

 

[zarmanto]

What's the reluctance here for this? Generally the fees are the same whether its tap or pin payments. At least here in Canada it is.

Personally, I think that the reluctance probably has to do with who gets to collect fees on the transaction. Some stores still seem to think they have enough sway to entice their customers into using their app and their store-brand card. One or two of those stores may be right, depending upon the incentives... but that doesn't mean that the rest of the industry (nor the customer base) is going to line up behind them. For every customer who transitions to a store-brand card, there's another customer who decides to stop shopping at these "technologically backwards" stores, in favor of other options. Of course, stores recognize and track this kind of movement, so they know far better than any consumer how much money they've lost due to their resistance to change. Not long after the transition to mobile and tap-to-pay started, a number of stores did the math more quickly and promptly rolled out those new card readers as fast as they could... whereas others...

Well, those others have obviously lost money on the deal. No matter how big you are, you can only lose money for so long before the shareholders push back.

 

[Hamsterhjulet]

Yep, surprising... Same here in Finland.. You can pay with Google Pay, Apple Pay, Garmin pay etc.. everywhere. If store accept's card (actually many places do not take cash, only card), Apple Pay works.

It’s the same here. Haven’t been anywhere in Denmark yet where Apple Pay wasn’t an option. Considering America always gets the new features first I’m baffled that Apple Pay is so fare behind.