Walmart Still Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in U.S. Despite Many Customer Requests

[monstermash]

Where did you get your stats? Just curious. Here is a completely different set of stats that say 80% of consumers used contactless payments in 2021.

27 Contactless Payments Statistics for 2024

Contactless payments are essential today. Here are the latest contactless payment statistics so you can utilize them for your business.

fitsmallbusiness.com

Summary:

1. From 2019 to 2020, there was a 150% increase in contactless payment transactions
2. In 2021, over 80% of US consumers used contactless payments
3. The US now has the most contactless cards of any market in the world
4. The global contactless payment market is projected to nearly quadruple in value by 2026
5. 67% of US retailers offer shoppers some form of contactless payment (this differs from your stat of 90%)

From the article I quoted in the post you responded to.

But you might want to consider putting a little thought into things. For example, these two statements are NOT in conflict:

1). 20% of retail transactions in 2021 were via NFC.

2). 80% of consumers made retail transactions in 2021 via NFC.

As for the difference in the percentage of retailers accepting NFC, I cited 2022 data. You cited 2021 data.

 

[kiehtan]

I pretty much use Apple Pay every time I can, unless it's summertime and I'm carrying cash (I bartend in the summer). For this reason I tend to avoid Walmart and Home Depot/Lowe's unless there isn't really another choice.

 

[FloatingBones]

Walmart does what it does because it can, and it's not stopping people from shopping at Walmart.

Nonsense. Of course it has an impact. I have friends who will only shop @retail that supports Apple Pay, and the demographics of those people are extremely attractive to retail businesses. Walmart has precise estimates how much this impacts their bottom line.

If the pain gets big enough, they will embrace Apple Pay at the drop of a hat.

 

[spartan1967]

So I am becoming a huge fan of Apple Pay since getting their CC. I mean taking my 13 mini out and double clicking to get 2% back everywhere is so freaking easy. Thinking about putting it on my AW, but that means a password which I don't particularly care for.

Looked into getting the Walmart Capital One CC and LOL they only offer 2% back in store. 1.5% cash back there is fine with my other CC.

As a matter of fact, I read Meijer and Aldi takes Apple Pay. Walmart is now not my go to grocery store anymore. And not only for the reason Meijer sells Dirty Bastards ale and Walmart does not. 😉

 

[lartola]

Nonsense. Of course it has an impact. I have friends who will only shop @retail that supports Apple Pay, and the demographics of those people are extremely attractive to retail businesses. Walmart has precise estimates how much this impacts their bottom line.

If the pain gets big enough, they will embrace Apple Pay at the drop of a hat.

That’s exactly the problem: Walmart is so huge that the pain will never grow big enough. No matter how many people decide to stay away from walmart, they’ll never be enough to make walmart react. That should be clear after 8 years of them purposefully disabling contactless at all their stores in every country where they have a presence except Canada.

 

[ksec]

So do they not accept contactless cards?

Turns out they dont accept NFC.

With the volume Walmart gets, I don't expect Walmart accept the the normal Apple Pay demand unless Apple is willing to bend the rules a bit.

 

[lartola]

Turns out they dont accept NFC.

With the volume Walmart gets, I don't expect Walmart accept the the normal Apple Pay demand unless Apple is willing to bend the rules a bit.

What rules? Apple doesn’t have any direct contact with merchants.

 

[monstermash]

Nonsense. Of course it has an impact. I have friends who will only shop @retail that supports Apple Pay, and the demographics of those people are extremely attractive to retail businesses. Walmart has precise estimates how much this impacts their bottom line.

If the pain gets big enough, they will embrace Apple Pay at the drop of a hat.

Not even a rounding error on Walmart's balance sheet man.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

From the article I quoted in the post you responded to.

But you might want to consider putting a little thought into things. For example, these two statements are NOT in conflict:

1). 20% of retail transactions in 2021 were via NFC.

2). 80% of consumers made retail transactions in 2021 via NFC.

As for the difference in the percentage of retailers accepting NFC, I cited 2022 data. You cited 2021 data.

If I said #1 and #2 above were in conflict, I did not mean to. They are unrelated stats.

But, if 67% of retailers in 2021 compared to 90% (per Apple so may be a bit exaggerated) in 2022 accept NFC payments, then that's a pretty whopping 23% more in one year. So many more retailers picking up NFC in just 1 year, but you say Home Depot, Walmart and Lowes (and others) have nothing to gain because the number of NFC transactions is low? Doesn't make sense why so many more retailers are jumping onboard then.

 

[falainber]

I pretty much use Apple Pay every time I can, unless it's summertime and I'm carrying cash (I bartend in the summer). For this reason I tend to avoid Walmart and Home Depot/Lowe's unless there isn't really another choice.

When shopping, the natural priorities are:

• distance
• price
• selection

Method of payment? Who cares? You pay the same amount. You are ready to drive/walk more, pay more for worse product just to be able to pay with Apple Pay so that Apple received their two cents. Your priorities seem rather peculiar. Did anyone tell you that?

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

When shopping, the natural priorities are:

• distance
• price
• selection

Method of payment? Who cares? You pay the same amount. You are ready to drive/walk more, pay more for worse product just to be able to pay with Apple Pay so that Apple received their two cents. Your priorities seem rather peculiar. Did anyone tell you that?

I hate carrying a wallet full of credit cards and if our state would utilize digital ID (drivers license) I would almost purposefully shop only places that take NFC just so as to not have to carry a wallet. The retailers who do accept NFC would get my business and I bet I'm not alone in thinking that.

 

[falainber]

I hate carrying a wallet full of credit cards and if our state would utilize digital ID (drivers license) I would almost purposefully shop only places that take NFC just so as to not have to carry a wallet. The retailers who do accept NFC would get my business and I bet I'm not alone in thinking that.

I get it, you love NFC. What about WiFi, Bluetooth etc? What are you going to do about your health insurance card? Drug prescriptions card? Costco card? In my grocery store, one can pay with credit card while the cashier is scanning the goods. Wireless payment is accepted only after the scanning is done, so you actually waste some time with Apple Pay. In general, though, payment method is totally inconsequential to even care about it.

 

[bigchrisfgb]

That’s exactly the problem: Walmart is so huge that the pain will never grow big enough. No matter how many people decide to stay away from walmart, they’ll never be enough to make walmart react. That should be clear after 8 years of them purposefully disabling contactless at all their stores in every country where they have a presence except Canada.

Walmart until recently owned one of the UK’s largest supermarkets, ASDA. ASDA pretty much enabled Apple Pay from the start when it launched in the U.K.
The outlier in their stores accepting Apple Pay or not was the USA, not their other markets.

 

[black_knight]

Walmart Pay? Never used it. But how can getting your phone out, needing to find and open their app, navigate to the screen to produce a QR code, put the QR code up to the scanner and hope it scans any more convenient than putting my Apple Watch up to the pay terminal to pay?

You’re being facetious, but Walmart isn’t. They are leaving a lot of money on the table by not accepting NFC/ApplePay.

 

[gund1234]

I guess we BOYCOTT Walmart until they do

if you don't like what Walmart is doing you can always stop shopping there.
best approch would be to vote with your wallet, instead of depending on government to regulate.

 

[BC2009]

I have always and will continue to refuse to use the incredibly INCONVENIENT Walmart Pay via a QR code in their app.

It is easier just to pull out my credit card and stick it in the reader than it is to unlock my iPhone, open an app, find the screen with the QR code and then let somebody try to scan the QR code on my phone — sometimes failing to do so and then they reach for my iPhone to take it from me so they can adjust the angle for the scanner. No thank you.

Compare that experience with double tapping the pill-shaped button on my Apple Watch and holding it over the reader. An action that draws delight to this day from people who are ringing me up at checkout. No FaceID or TouchID required just a double tap and a wave from my Apple Watch that has not left my wrist since I authenticated myself.

Today: bought honey from a local vendor via square. Dude was surprised when i just used my watch to pay and thought it was cool.

3 weeks ago: paying for parking, attendant said she did not think the watch would work. I said her reader had the correct NFC payment logo. Gave it a try and she was surprised at how easy it was and thought it was so cool.

A few months ago: somebody checked me out who was wearing an Apple Watch stopped me to ask me to show her how to get her Apple Watch to do that.

Such a great feature at the beach too since you can leave your iPhone behind and Apple Pay still works on Apple Watch with or without cellular.

 

[gund1234]

You’re being facetious, but Walmart isn’t. They are leaving a lot of money on the table by not accepting NFC/ApplePay.

We don't have all the information to make that call.
I am sure some one at Walmart determned that they are not loosing that much money by not enabling Apple Pay, and they are making more money by using heir own systems.
Customer purchase data is gold for advertising.

 

[dbrose]

They don't have to. Their customers are so devoted to them that they really don't care. Plus how many would have an Apple device that would support Apple Pay anyway? *shrug*

EDIT: Or understand it or even trust it. I didn't go to Apple Pay right away, but really like it for where it works. I *do* wish it was everywhere, but *shrug* I wouldn't necessarily boycott a business that didn't use it, but if such a business was say a mile the other side of a business that didn't, and the prices were close, I *might* choose that business over the closer one. Target supports Apple Pay, and I have seen some of their POS systems, and am GLAD I don't have to touch them.

I wouldn’t be able to shop at Walmart. I go out with no wallet and I ain’t trusting Walmart with a connection to my card. If a place doesn’t take Apple Pay I walk out and go somewhere that does.

 

[bradl]

When shopping, the natural priorities are:

• distance
• price
• selection

Method of payment? Who cares? You pay the same amount. You are ready to drive/walk more, pay more for worse product just to be able to pay with Apple Pay so that Apple received their two cents. Your priorities seem rather peculiar. Did anyone tell you that?

I refer to my second post in this thread regarding the concept of distribution. Trust me when I say that you are not paying the same amount for a given product: markup, wholesale, or otherwise.

Distance? Obviously that is situational. One hardly has a choice if they are in the small towns I referred to earlier (population < 6000) and Walmart is the only option in town, versus major cities where Target, Shopko, Fred Meyer, and others are right across the street from Walmart, giving them that choice at comparable (if not cheaper) prices.

I get it, you love NFC. What about WiFi, Bluetooth etc? What are you going to do about your health insurance card? Drug prescriptions card? Costco card? In my grocery store, one can pay with credit card while the cashier is scanning the goods. Wireless payment is accepted only after the scanning is done, so you actually waste some time with Apple Pay.

All of those have the card available in their own respective apps, or have compatibility with the Wallet App. I haven't carried my Costco or Sam's Club card in years; I open up the app, show my membership there, and I'm in. In Costco's case, when I am checking out either with a person or self checkout, the scan the code I show from my app, they ring up everything, and I Apple Pay the purchase. With Sam's Club, I check out everything through their app, and off I go. I use both apps to purchase gas.

My health insurance cards are accessible through their app; however, I will keep a copy of those cards on me for my children, as they are listed as dependents under my policy. My Auto insurance cards are accessible through Wallet.

In general, though, payment method is totally inconsequential to even care about it.

In my 10 years of working in the PCI environment, I can tell you enough how wrong this statement is, especially with how easy it has been to commit credit card fraud based on the payment method alone. Payment method is sure as hell consequential to care about it; but by all means, don't mind when you cross a CC terminal that says "Chip and PIN doesn't work, please swipe", then have your number scraped when the card is swiped.

And yes, that has happened too many times to count.

BL.

 

[black_knight]

But this isn’t about mentioning competitors or not. Apple has misled the public, especially the american public, into believing that NFC is their own proprietary tech, which it’s not.

Curious as to what evidence you have to substantiate this claim.

 

[black_knight]

It's just crazy that a huge retailer like Walmart doesn't accept Apple Pay or contactless cards. In the UK pretty much EVERY retailer accepts both. Why is the US so far behind in these things?

US is a third world country wearing a Gucci belt.

 

[noannualfee]

MacRumors should be more appalled that we still can’t scan our Costco membership’s QR code at their gas pumps years after being installed.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Taking shots at America seems to pretty popular here today from our UK friends in this thread. I don't get the hate. Maybe it is jealousy.

Anyway like your compatriots here, your logic is flawed.

I don’t know why you’re taking comments about contactless payments personally. It’s perfectly reasonable to say American is very backward in regards to banking as it’s about a decade behind Europe in regards to technology in that sector. Chip and pin arrived in the US nearly ten years after Europe and contactless was being used here in 2007. Its only just gaining momentum in the US now.

Nobody is jealous of anybody, what a ridiculous thing to even suggest btw.

 

[bushman4]

Walmart hàs fallen behind the times unfortunately

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

The norm?
Curious how this is that being measured.

How it’s measured? Every shop big or small accepts contactless payments. Even my wife accepts it when she does a craft fair as a contactless terminal is as little as £40 to buy and set up. It’s now a challenge to even find a shop, petrol station, tyre inflating machine, restaurant, cafe, pub etc etc. If contactless is accepted, so is Apple Pay as it works on the same system. I appreciate it’s not the same in the US and I don’t think anybody means to offend our American friends, it’s just surprising.