Apple Pay's Merchant Problem

[Rogifan]

http://www.pymnts.com/news/2016/apple-pays-merchant-problem/

Apple Pay took for granted merchants would rollout Apple Pay in their stores, and that didn’t happen,” they say.

The further issue is that of those merchants who did sign on, the roll out to the individual store level was slow and uneven,” PMI noted. “After the launch, they point out, that the only retailer that has Apple Pay in 100 percent of its locations was Whole Foods – and a full 14-months later that is still true.”

“The majority when asked said they wanted an up-to-date store directory of where [Apple Pay] is actually being taken. And this has been an issue since Day 1. Even after a year, consumers are still trying to find locations that actually take it,” the study’s author noted.

“70 percent of the people using it are reporting some problems,” PMI researcher Leon Majors followed. “Initially, again I believe the banks and Apple didn’t even realize that these things could even be an issue. Now I think the banks are doing better and training call centers to deal with those problems. Back in 2014 you had Apple and the banks pointing fingers at each other.”

This is pretty embarrassing. Same with the WSJ story that Apple doesn't know how many people are using the News app and was giving bad info to publishers. Is there one thing Eddy Cue is responsible for that doesn't have issues or is best in class? I can't think of anything. At what point is Tim Cook going to realize Cue isn't up to the task and bring someone in that can do the job?

 

[BrianBaughn]

Can't argue with that, really.

Could some merchants be waiting to adopt since they have to retool for the chip cards anyway?

 

[Rigby]

From my (user) perspective, there are two things wrong with it: (1) Too few merchants, and (2) lack of employee training at merchants that do support it. Often the cashiers push the wrong button on their system and it doesn't work. I have stopped using it even in some stores that officially support it, like Subway and Staples. It's easier to just swipe a card.

I use it mostly for in-app payments now. Rapid take-out orders at Panera Bread, card reloads at Starbucks, recently I even ordered a laptop from B&H using Apple Pay. This works really well and hassle-free.

 

[tmiw]

Can't argue with that, really.

Could some merchants be waiting to adopt since they have to retool for the chip cards anyway?

I think a lot of Apple Pay's supporters blindly supported it because Apple came up with it, not realizing the implications (mainly no more non-consensual data collection). If they had to make that decision again some would likely not support it at all; despite what we'd like to think, loyalty cards are not a great option from their perspective because most people won't opt-in for those or will give incorrect info.

As a result I'm totally expecting most major retailers to not support it even after turning on chip, but perhaps I'm being pessimistic on that.

 

[BSben]

Apple pay is really a great thing, but the way Apple handled it is extremely poor. In the US you have the lack of interest from merchants, here in the UK we have a right mess. Every merchant accepting contactless payments accepts Apple Pay, but the VAST majority only up to 30GBP, if Apple want to do this properly they should have a dedicated website telling their customer where there is no limit to avoid awkward situations at the checkout. It also is rolling out at sluggish speed. Germany is a massive market, but no Apple Pay.

 

[neil_cm17]

Germany is a massive market, but no Apple Pay.

In my experience in Germany credit / debit card usage is low. Most transactions in stores are still done using cash and apple's market share is lower in Germany.