Walmart Subsidiary Asda Testing Apple Pay in U.K.

[MacRumors]

While its parent company Walmart remains one of the most notable Apple Pay holdouts in the United States, British supermarket chain Asda now appears to be testing the mobile payments service at select locations in the United Kingdom.

The supermarket chain, which has 626 stores across the U.K., recently confirmed on Twitter that Apple Pay is something it is "currently trialling in a few of our stores," but it remains unclear if the testing will lead to a wider rollout in the future.

A few Asda customers have recently tweeted about the newly enabled Apple Pay support at superstore locations in Aberdeen, Scotland and Ferring, a small village located about 60 miles southwest from London, England.

@Hyperglaucoma Thanks, I believe this is something we're currently trialling in a few of our stores. Thanks, Beth - Asda Service Team (@AsdaServiceTeam) August 15, 2016

As recently as August 12, a support representative tweeted that Asda does not currently accept Apple Pay, but that it does accept contactless payments in some of its stores. Apple Pay generally works where contactless payments are accepted, but some retailers have specific policies against accepting Apple Pay.

In 1999, Asda was purchased by Walmart, which recently completed a nationwide launch of its own QR code-based mobile payments solution Walmart Pay in the United States. Walmart was initially committed to the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) consortium and its now indefinitely postponed payments service CurrentC.

In related news, Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank, and digital banking service B introduced Apple Pay support for cardholders in the U.K. last week.

Article Link: Walmart Subsidiary Asda Testing Apple Pay in U.K.

 

[Sirious]

If Tesco has it, so should they.

 

[Jme Saunders]

It's also important to know, unlike in the USA where launch partners are needed as the adoption of contactless isn't as common... ASDA will be supporting *all* contactless payments.

 

[peterh988]

The infrastructure for contactless is already in place and widespread here, it doesn't take much effort to accept Apple Pay. Stubbornness and own brand schemes are the only real obstacle. (I'm looking at you, Tesco)

They'll all come around eventually.

 

[Planey28]

The infrastructure for contactless is already in place and widespread here, it doesn't take much effort to accept Apple Pay. Stubbornness and own brand schemes are the only real obstacle. (I'm looking at you, Tesco)

They'll all come around eventually.

Tesco take it in all of their express stores now - it's just the bigger stores that are yet to take contactless.

 

[Gorms]

I think they are the last big supermarket in the UK to implement contactless? And yes, a lack of contactless does influence where I dash to on my lunch to pick up a sandwich and not in a good way for the 2 Asda's I drive past.

 

[2457282]

What does ASDA stand for? Is this an acronym or is that a real word that means something to the british people? Because I am only aware of the American Sleep Disorder Association. And hopefully these stores don't put people to sleep

 

[bbfc]

Supermarkets have been slow at implementing Contactless. Tesco has only just recently started accepting it. Sainsbury's don't support it yet. ASDA have a very small trial. It's only Waitrose and M&S that have been offering contactless for some time (and Apple Pay since it launched).

 

[flaw600]

It's also important to know, unlike in the USA where launch partners are needed as the adoption of contactless isn't as common... ASDA will be supporting *all* contactless payments.

In the US, where contactless payments are accepted, all methods are supported.

 

[bbfc]

What does ASDA stand for? Is this an acronym or is that a real word that means something to the british people? Because I am only aware of the American Sleep Disorder Association. And hopefully these stores don't put people to sleep

From Wikipedia...

In 1965, when the Asquith brothers approached Associated Dairies to run the butchery departments within their small store chain, a merger was proposed. So they joined together with Noel Stockdale, Arthur Stockdale's son, to form a new company, Asquith + Dairies = Asda (capitalised from 1985).

 

[peterh988]

Supermarkets have been slow at implementing Contactless. Tesco has only just recently started accepting it. Sainsbury's don't support it yet. ASDA have a very small trial. It's only Waitrose and M&S that have been offering contactless for some time (and Apple Pay since it launched).

At first I thought it was about data grabbing on your shopping habits, but everyone has a loyalty card to do that these days, so you don't really need the payment method to do that.

You'd think stores would want to make it as easy as possible for people to spend as much as possible in the way they prefer.

 

[bbfc]

At first I thought it was about data grabbing on your shopping habits, but everyone has a loyalty card to do that these days, so you don't really need the payment method to do that.

You'd think stores would want to make it as easy as possible for people to spend as much as possible in the way they prefer.

I suppose with the current limit of £30 on contactless card payments, maybe they don't see it as a priority given that most people will spend much more than that on average.

 

[tmiw]

ASDA pretty much has to due to upcoming Visa and MasterCard requirements that every store in Europe supports contactless payment. Since there's no such requirement for the US, it's no surprise that most stores simply aren't bothering to enable it.

 

[peterh988]

I suppose with the current limit of £30 on contactless card payments, maybe they don't see it as a priority given that most people will spend much more than that on average.

I understand it's a fairly simple procedure to get limitless Apple Pay accepted on your machines, as I said, giving your customers an extra, simple way to give you their money seems like a no brainer to me.

I noticed my local Morrisons has Apple Pay/Android Pay collars around their CC machines, but are still limited to £30. Sort it out!

 

[tonemonkey the bluesman]

I've used apple pay in ASDA since the launch of the 6s... Trialling?

 

[dtuck90]

The Tesco superstore where I work in Staffordshire had contactless terminals installed last night and I've used apple pay a few times today

 

[macduke]

Walmart is cancer and I avoid it at all cost. Literally—I don't care if the crap they sell costs less. Sometimes the same version of a product they sell there is a cheaper made version of what they sell elsewhere. You don't really save any money if the stuff you buy breaks quickly. They also don't seem to be quite as competitive on many foods anymore, but perhaps that's because I'm eating a little healthier.

It's a no-brainer to shop places like Hy-Vee online which delivers for free. I imagine this medium-sized midwest chain isn't the only one doing this. They might cost a little more but sometimes have sales, and the time and fuel it saves running to the store is worth it, and you also get fuel saver points which saves big on gas when filling up. Shopping places like Amazon also saves even more money which makes Wal-Mart not even worth it. Menards is a lot better too for many things, and Target is ok but not the best alternative. Having a good rewards credit card also saves money on groceries and mitigates the need to go to Walmart—you just have to remember to pay it off every month.

Leaving Walmart behind this year is one of the best decisions my wife and I have ever made, full stop.

I doubt Walmart stateside gets Apple Pay anytime soon because they don't care about getting the business of smart shoppers. They want the mindless zombies who will sign up for their system and hand over all their personal info for a free bag of Cheetos or a Mountain Dew. Or maybe even nothing at all.

 

[iMember]

Apple doesn't care about Walmart, only low class buys from Walmart anyway, so the reason why Walmart it's not accepting Pay is because they know their costumers it's using Android

 

[thisisnotmyname]

In the US, where contactless payments are accepted, all methods are supported.

I've found some that actively blocked Apple Pay despite supporting contactless in general.

 

[bbfc]

I've used apple pay in ASDA since the launch of the 6s... Trialling?

My local ASDA does not have contactless terminals.
[doublepost=1471987749][/doublepost]

I understand it's a fairly simple procedure to get limitless Apple Pay accepted on your machines, as I said, giving your customers an extra, simple way to give you their money seems like a no brainer to me.

I noticed my local Morrisons has Apple Pay/Android Pay collars around their CC machines, but are still limited to £30. Sort it out!

I work at M&S and we upgraded our terminals some time ago to support the increased Apple Pay limit. It's quite cool that we can do contactless refunds too.

 

[scottish]

Tesco take it in all of their express stores now - it's just the bigger stores that are yet to take contactless.

They are starting to roll out to superstores and Extra stores. And all the Metro stores near me support it now.

Supermarkets have been slow at implementing Contactless. Tesco has only just recently started accepting it. Sainsbury's don't support it yet. ASDA have a very small trial. It's only Waitrose and M&S that have been offering contactless for some time (and Apple Pay since it launched).

Also Morrisons who implemented contactless in all their stores at once.

I suppose with the current limit of £30 on contactless card payments, maybe they don't see it as a priority given that most people will spend much more than that on average.

I think that's an excuse Sainsbury's have used in the past. I understand there is a long overdue update to their point of sale system which will include support for contactless but you won't hear anything about that publicly.

 

[Max Portakabin]

Supermarkets have been slow at implementing Contactless. Tesco has only just recently started accepting it. Sainsbury's don't support it yet. ASDA have a very small trial. It's only Waitrose and M&S that have been offering contactless for some time (and Apple Pay since it launched).

Weird. I've been using contactless in several ASDA's for at least two years.

Sainsburys, though? Sheesh.

 

[scottish]

Weird. I've been using contactless in several ASDA's for at least two years.

Sainsburys, though? Sheesh.

Several in the same area?

 

[iGeek2014]

The Tesco where I work in Derby had contactless terminals installed a few weeks ago.

Have had a few looks when I've used Apple Pay with my Watch. More intrigue than suspicion.

The Asda at Spondon and all three Sainsbury's have had contactless capable terminals for some time but like the majority of their other stores it's never been turned on (yet).

 

[Jme Saunders]

In the US, where contactless payments are accepted, all methods are supported.

What I mean is, Apple focused on launch partners in the US. In the UK, Apple Pay came out and we just started using it at all the places already accepting contactless.