‘Walmart Pay’ to make checkout easier for customers

Since the launch of Android Pay, retail giant Walmart has refused to accept the mobile payment option, saying instead that it only matters that consumers have a payment option that is widely accepted.

Walmart Pay will launch in select Walmart stores starting today and will roll out nationwide by the first half of 2016.

Walmart Pay works with nearly any smartphone and payment type including major credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards, and gift cards. Then you’ll have to scan the QR code displayed at the register to confirm the payment and you’re done.

It would seem a little too good to be true if it was just an app, but Walmart’s foray into the mobile payment wars isn’t like the other payment systems at all.

“Checkout using Walmart Pay happens in three easy steps – visit any register, open the Walmart app and choose Walmart Pay”, Walmart says.

Near-field communication (NFC) payment services such as Apple Pay require customers to place their phones near a store’s NFC-enabled payment terminal and scan their fingerprint to make a payment.

“We are creating a seamless shopping experience that includes payment”, Neil Ashe, president and CEO of Wal-Mart’s global eCommerce, told reporters.

What we’re waiting to see is if Walmart Pay will emerge as Asda Pay in the United Kingdom (somewhat doubtful, we know that United Kingdom banking regulations are very different to the USA so compliance costs would be high).

Walmart has become the latest addition to the increasingly crowded mobile payment marketplace. The mobile payments platform wars have been making plenty of headlines in recent months as more and more companies are adding their own systems to the marketplace. Walmart will send you an e-receipt when you’re all done.

The number of tap-capable mobile payment machines in the United States is expected to surpass 1.5 million this year.

While the mobile payment market has got more crowded with big players such as Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Android Pay and Samsung Electronic Co Ltd’s Samsung Pay, adoption by customers remains sluggish.

For those of you that had been hoping for Walmart to start supporting Apple Pay, then there has been a bit of a setback. About 22 million customers use the Wal-Mart app each month, and more than half of Wal-Mart’s online orders are now coming from mobile devices.