Walmart to roll out own payment system in its stores

It’s a new option within the app, and upon selecting it, you be prompted to add your credit or debit card or even a pre-paid or Walmart gift card.

Walmart on Thursday announced the launch of Walmart Pay, a proprietary mobile payments system for use in the retail giant’s stores. Then you need to select Walmart Pay and scan the QR code that is displayed at the checkout terminal and then wait until the checkout staff member is finished to make a final payment through the app. Then they activate the camera on the app to scan the QR code on the reader after the first item is scanned by the cashier. In all, more than 140 million Americans shop at a Wal-Mart each week. Thus the company has produced its Walmart Pay as a solution that works across devices, operating systems, and payment types.

The launch of its own electronic payment system was something of a surprise since Wal-Mart is one of several major USA chains involved in a partnership called MCX. With Walmart Pay, the company hopes to improve how customers check out and “dramatically” expand mobile payment access. “It’s about how we can use payment to create a better shopping experience for our customers in our stores”. The company says its main goal is to speed up the checkout process for customers. The Merchant Customer Exchange – a consortium of retailers that includes Wal-Mart and Target Corp. – also is testing a mobile-payment app after years of discussions. A receipt electronically is sent to the user’s app and is able to be viewed immediately.

Wal-Mart said Walmart Pay was developed independently, but it continues to remain associated with CurrentC as a possible mobile wallet addition to Walmart Pay. Will 2016 simply be a year of the mobile payment market expanding or are we likely to see new technology step into play? First, it’s not based on smartphone hardware, so not only does Android or iOS not matter, but shoppers can still use their older generation device, regardless if it has NFC or not.