Walmart to Offer Mobile Payments through Walmart Pay

2015 has been a strong year for mobile payments in-store, with a number of businesses now accepting Apple Pay, as contactless has moved from exclusively card to card and smartphone.

The new Walmart app works with any iOS or Android device that can download it, and with any major credit, debit, prepaid, or Walmart gift card.

Wal-Mart will debut the new feature in all of its 4,500-plus USA stores in the first half of 2016.

Walmart has thus far chosen not to support NFC-supported mobile payment systems, meaning it hasn’t yet supported Apple, Samsung and Google’s mobile payment options.

USA banking group JPMorgan Chase and South Korean electronics group LG also are launching mobile pay applications.

At Walmart, roll your cart up to any register, open the Walmart app, and tap Walmart Pay. The app will finish the transaction. The camera will activate, and you’ll scan the code displayed at the register.

Walmart executives said they will remain a member of MCX and the two payment options (CurrentC and Walmart Pay) are different solutions, according to Reuters.

“I think at this early stage [mobile payment] is still thought of as a toy”.

The retail consortium’s CurrentC system is similar to Apple – but customers don’t use a fingerprint, and it doesn’t use NFC technology. Some may only work with one and some will work with many. None of them has achieved widespread use.

Although Apple now allows users to store their loyalty cards in the Apple Wallet app, Apple Pay does not have a “strong value proposition” as it can not include retailers’ loyalty programs, research firm Gartner Inc analyst Penny Gillespie said. Features including checking in and picking up an online order, refilling pharmacy prescriptions and finding an item’s store location.

American retail giant Walmart is the latest business to launch its own mobile payments push, allowing retails to pay by mobile, and use mobile wallets.

“The simplicity and ease of Walmart Pay comes not only from how it works, but also in how it’s been built”, Walmart SVP of services Daniel Eckert told Fast Company in a statement.