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'Walmart Pay' Expands Nationwide as Apple Pay Holdout Continues [Updated]
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I don't even let the annoyance bother me anymore. Mobile phone payments will never catch on in the U.S. Americans are too paranoid about everything related to cards. We can't even move to EMV or contactless credit cards without everyone throwing a $%&^ fit over it.
If a merchant has their chip reader active, I'm happy.
If not, I walk out wondering why they don't.
If a merchant has their chip reader active, I'm happy.
If not, I walk out wondering why they don't.
I definitely wasn't saying they were equivalent. I did say a process that takes 5, no let's stretch it, 10 seconds doesn't equate to a hassle... for me, while acknowledging it may be a hassle for you. I guess I view it from the perspective that neither process gets you out of the store any quicker than the other. Caveat being the use of the standard cashier process. Self check out? Possibly so, but we're still talking about seconds. It seems a little perspective is in order when discussing the process. This doesn't apply to your comments but some people in this thread really need to pump the brakes on the trials and tribulations of Walmart Pay. Primarily because most of the complaints I've seem are all supposition, not from an actual experience. Hyperbole alert: The process literally <--urban dictionary meaning of literally- takes less time than it takes for someone to type a comment like this gem:Yes... we're not talking about minutes or hours here.
But there ARE more steps to use Walmart Pay than to use Apple Pay.
You can't possibly think the two processes are equivalent, can you?
Apple Pay is ready to go as soon as your iPhone is placed near the reader. No unlocking the phone or opening an app. Just press your thumb and go.
Walmart Pay, on the other hand, makes you unlock your phone, open an app, press a button in the app, use TouchID for a second time, then point your phone at a QR code.
It's not impossible to do those tasks... but come on.
I Googled the word "hassle" just to see what it would come up with.
It returned "irritating inconvenience"
Nailed it.
No real comment on your quote. Just using it as a time measurement.
The main objection is the same as it was for the CurrentC group - Apple Pay and other NFC payment systems provide an anonymizing layer for the consumer, preventing tracking of your purchases and collection of your financial details. That sort of metadata is valuable to them.
I imagine if/when they start allowing Apple Pay, it'll be more along the lines of how Starbucks does it - you use Apple Pay within the store app, meaning they still collect all that valuable information on you.
I'm telling you, apps are going to be the more popular option. Let's look at what people actually want:
- Rewards/loyalty offers
- Electronic receipts
- Not having to wait in line
Meanwhile, a retailer specific app lets them do all three without having to deal with much in the way of POS/terminal firmware. (And retailers do have to modify POS/terminal firmware if they want to treat Apple Pay as anything other than a magstripe card. Possibly just to have contactless as well.) They also get loyal, repeat shoppers who won't go to competitors, which is valuable in and of itself.
The way I see it, America is so late to the party that we're basically skipping contactless too. What Apple needs to do is to get Apple Pay in more apps, lest they be locked out altogether. Like some sort of app from Square that'll let me mobile order lunch/dinner/whatever from any of their merchants that opt-in.
They are NFC capable. They just aren't enabled on either the merchant account level or the POS level.
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Walmart I'm sure would rather you put it on your main screen. Fighting for that prime main home screen real estat.
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Exactly this. Walmart pay could easily work with Apple Pay because they could just add it into the app. I imagine this is how they'll do "Apple Pay"...I wouldn't even mind it if they did it this way. More places I could use it the better.
Again... time isn't the hassle I was referring to. It was the steps.
Every retailer is trying to create "friction-free" experiences for their customers, right?
Walmart Pay... and other QR Code based systems... are adding friction by introducing multiple steps. A camera... really? Is this 2009?
I'm not saying "OMG it takes so long to unlock my phone and open an app"
My point is... mobile payment solutions exist where do you don't have to unlock your phone and open an app.
It doesn't matter if both solutions take 5 seconds to complete. The one that accomplishes the same goal with fewer steps is the winner
Isn't this the same discussion from the old MCX/CurrentC threads on this forum? I thought the general consensus was that QR Code solutions are needlessly complicated compared to NFC solutions. (even if we're only talking about a couple seconds of actual time spent in either process)
The time wasn't the issue... it was the steps.
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Sounds like credit card is still easier. Well, whatever. You'll spend an hour shopping there. Not like 5 seconds vs 15 seconds of paying matters.
Well Asda in the UK (whom Walmart own) have NFC readers but contactless is disabled full stop.
Am very surprised they haven't tried to roll the same out over here TBH.
Am very surprised they haven't tried to roll the same out over here TBH.
I always pay cash - even a car. Many people in Germany do so. Why should any stupid company like Apple or Walmart get a single shred of my data? Why?
"Walmart Pay expanding, Apple Pay continues to holdout"? Walmart Pay is not expanding and Apple Pay is not continuing to holdout period! If Walmart Pay becomes available to other place other than Walmart and supports more bank then that's expanding. As far as I'm concern Macrumors even reports everytime Apple Pay is accepted in more stores and banks is added support to Apple Pay. In a few months more banks will be added to Apple Pay supports and Apple will add the support of Apple Pay for online purchase on iOS 10. Now that's expanding!
Walmart is huge, and with twice the annual revenue of Apple. Biggest company in the world they are so they can afford to hold on Apple Pay just a little bit longer lol
It takes me less than 0.5 secs with Apple Pay. Also can use Apple Watch. No such thing with Walmart.
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I only use self checkout. What then.
On every POS terminal you've ever used it on?
I call BS.
There are lots of fidgety terminals that it would have been much easier to just Tap & Go with your chip-enabled CC ... in fact, tapping my CC works out to be way more efficient than using Apple Pay but I am persistent in using it.
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I can barely even get cell signal at the walmart near where I live so any sort of payment system that needs data will be painful. I doubt they will be in a rush to get Apple pay though, even up here in Canada where all walmarts have chip and pin terminals none of them support tap to pay. Walmart and Home Depot are some of the few places that I can think of that are large and don't have tap to pay, almost everyone else does
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I can't even imagine how much more efficient check out lanes would be if they could convert 5 seconds into 1 second. With the number of transactions walmart does per year that would actually make a big difference to their bottom line.
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I can't even imagine how much more efficient check out lanes would be if they could convert 5 seconds into 1 second. With the number of transactions walmart does per year that would actually make a big difference to their bottom line.
Tap, tap, tap, tap. That's what we're discussing here. Perspective. Both solutions are easy. One takes 4 taps and the other takes 1 tap, so I guess that one can be considered the winner in the button pushing race. There's nothing hard about either. Walmart probably knows their customers fairly well and probably crafted this to reach the majority in the easiest and most accessible way possible. Every phone doesn't have NFC capability and I'd bet good money a good portion of their customers use NFC-less phones. This solution lets them reach the most customers with minimal overhead.Again... time isn't the hassle I was referring to. It was the steps.
Every retailer is trying to create "friction-free" experiences for their customers, right?
Walmart Pay... and other QR Code based systems... are adding friction by introducing multiple steps. A camera... really? Is this 2009?
I'm not saying "OMG it takes so long to unlock my phone and open an app"
My point is... mobile payment solutions exist where do you don't have to unlock your phone and open an app.
It doesn't matter if both solutions take 5 seconds to complete. The one that accomplishes the same goal with fewer steps is the winner
Isn't this the same discussion from the old MCX/CurrentC threads on this forum? I thought the general consensus was that QR Code solutions are needlessly complicated compared to NFC solutions. (even if we're only talking about a couple seconds of actual time spent in either process)
The time wasn't the issue... it was the steps.
I understand what you're saying. I don't necessarily disagree with it. It just seems your words are artificially forcing hardship to make a point. It really ain't that hard.
You do make some very good points, however their approach would be better served to add their payment system as one of several supported options. With hundreds of millions of iOS devices sold it's foolish to dismiss the platform directly and most easily supported by Apple.
Walmart has double the Annual Revenue of Apple ... they carry some clout, so it's not surprising they've chosen to go their own way ... time will tell.
Bottom line, businesses have been around along time, and making a go of it, long before Apple Pay showed up. And given Apple's track record with Passbook / Wallet the jury is still out on whether Apple Pay will be much of hit with consumers.
Apple Pay may have taken awhile to come to Canada but I'm glad it did in the capacity that we have. This concept that individual stores need to accept Apple Pay seems so backwards to me. Anywhere that you can tap your card in Canadabyou can use Apple Pay and that's around 85% of stores I would say.
Even if I ignore that the process sounds way more convoluted to do this the idea that I would need an app for each and every store I go to is ridiculous. I can go into Loblaws right now and get my loyalty points and payment without touching their app or pulling out my wallet.
Even if I ignore that the process sounds way more convoluted to do this the idea that I would need an app for each and every store I go to is ridiculous. I can go into Loblaws right now and get my loyalty points and payment without touching their app or pulling out my wallet.
I'm not sure if it's different in the US but in Canada (from the cashier's perspective) it's 100% the same as any other card. If anything Wlmart Pay seems like it would need more training since the transaction appears to happen before they are done if I'm reading this right.
If I walk into a place that I know does NFC payments I just tell them its debit or credit. Whether I tap my physical card or my phone makes no difference to the person working. A lot are actually still surprised to see me pay with my phone which proves that it really is no different on their end.
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If no time is saved either way I would rather not be the customer that sits on my phone the entire time while they are doing their job. Having done retail I know that it's a lot easier on the cashier if you at least engage in polite conversation. Maybe I'm just too friendly though.Uh, okay. Apparently, emoji aren't as effective as a conveyance of jocularity as I thought they would be.
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When the cashier finishes ringing in your purchases aren't you at the exact same point whether you use Apple Pay or Walmart Pay? As bigredmachine pointed out up thread, all of the pre-processing can be done while the cashier is ringing up the items. You're getting out of the store at the same time regardless. Even with more steps in Walmart Pay, what time have you actually saved?