Apple Pay - Slow retailer adoption

[Macwick]

Almost two years since it's initial launch, I'm disappointed how few places that I frequent actually accept Apple Pay. I know retailers are coming on board every day, but it's yet to reach anything close to a critical mass where I could leave my wallet at home:

Grocery shopping - Giant: No. Harris Teeter: Yes.
Starbucks: No.
All sit-down restaurants: No. (Not sure how they would do this. Bring a device to your table?).
Gas stations: No.
Hallmark: No.
Subway: Yes.
Home Depot: No (after initially supporting it!).
Deli near my work: No.

Not complaining, just an observation. If it's only accepted at ~10% or less of the places that you spend your money, it's hardly worth remembering to use it.

 

[jarodlee88]

Almost two years since it's initial launch, I'm disappointed how few places that I frequent actually accept Apple Pay. I know retailers are coming on board every day, but it's yet to reach anything close to a critical mass where I could leave my wallet at home:

Grocery shopping - Giant: No. Harris Teeter: Yes.
Starbucks: No.
All sit-down restaurants: No. (Not sure how they would do this. Bring a device to your table?).
Gas stations: No.
Hallmark: No.
Subway: Yes.
Home Depot: No (after initially supporting it!).
Deli near my work: No.

Not complaining, just an observation. If it's only accepted at ~10% or less of the places that you spend your money, it's hardly worth remembering to use it.

Well, compare that with Samsung Pay and Android Pay, Apple still has the lead. It'll take a while for everyone to accept this relatively new form of payment.

 

[mic j]

Retailers are slow even to change to chipped credit cards. Even the ones that have done that are not pairing them with PIN's. The security of the transaction is what makes ApplePay so attractive, not the convenience. Just takes more loss of CC numbers and account info and someday the retailers will wake-up and determine it's worth the effort and expense. Gonna take patience though.

 

[Cineplex]

Do credit card providers bundle it with their offerings or does the retailer have to subscribe separately?

 

[Böhme417]

Almost two years since it's initial launch, I'm disappointed how few places that I frequent actually accept Apple Pay. I know retailers are coming on board every day, but it's yet to reach anything close to a critical mass where I could leave my wallet at home:

Grocery shopping - Giant: No. Harris Teeter: Yes.
Starbucks: No.
All sit-down restaurants: No. (Not sure how they would do this. Bring a device to your table?).
Gas stations: No.
Hallmark: No.
Subway: Yes.
Home Depot: No (after initially supporting it!).
Deli near my work: No.

Not complaining, just an observation. If it's only accepted at ~10% or less of the places that you spend your money, it's hardly worth remembering to use it.

All of the Starbucks locations near me now take contactless payments (but not chips).

I would imagine it would work at a table service restaurant the same way it does in Europe (and has for a while with chip cards). Yes, they bring a device to your table.

It's also frustrating how few places are taking chip cards despite how long retailers have had to prepare for it. Day to day, I find more places taking contactless payments than accepting chip cards. I've only encountered two places, Target and Nordstrom, that take chips but not contactless.

 

[tmiw]

Well, compare that with Samsung Pay and Android Pay, Apple still has the lead. It'll take a while for everyone to accept this relatively new form of payment.

I don't think there's much demand to pay with a mobile device outside of the Apple and Android fan sites, honestly. If there were, Samsung would be winning the marketshare war by miles and miles thanks to its support of older terminals.

I would imagine it would work at a table service restaurant the same way it does in Europe (and has for a while with chip cards). Yes, they bring a device to your table.

Also something that American restaurants mostly won't bother with. At best they'll probably do something app-based (like what Panera and OpenTable do) or if they're large enough, the Ziosk tablets at every table.

It's also frustrating how few places are taking chip cards despite how long retailers have had to prepare for it. Day to day, I find more places taking contactless payments than accepting chip cards. I've only encountered two places, Target and Nordstrom, that take chips but not contactless.

American retailers are more obsessed with fully integrated terminal processing than elsewhere, so they're mostly waiting for their POS system vendors to support/certify everything. Everyone who wasn't Visa and MasterCard also was assuming that we wouldn't bother with it until Target happened. Apparently that was a bad gamble on their part.

 

[M. Gustave]

I agree it's frustrating for us early adopters, but yes two years in is still early days.

Walgreens takes Apple Pay, and I'm thankful for that.