Walmart Pay App Launched

Walmart launched the Walmart Pay recently, its initial entry into the mobile payments business. The proprietary mobile payments system of the biggest retailer in the world was announced on Thursday as it become the first US-based retailer to promote the use of smartphones as mobile wallets to its customers.

Walmart Pay is compatible with the Android and iOS mobile operating systems of Google and Apple, respectively. It will also work with a number of major debit and credit cards and will initially be usable at stores close to the Bentonville, Arkansas headquarters of the company.

Walmart US senior vice president of services Daniel Eckert said the company decided to ensure that Walmart Pay is compatible with nearly all smartphones as well as accept nearly all types of payments. In the future, it may also be integrated with other mobile wallets. Eckert added that it resulted to an innovation facilitating mobile payments for its customers across the country.

Walmart Pay App Launched - image credit: mactrast.com

Walmart follows the lead of a number of companies that consider mobile payments as a major service in the future. The concept of using smartphones for purchasing products and services may have existed for a number of years already, but interest among consumers increased when Apple Pay was launched last year. The Samsung Pay and Android Pay of Google followed soon after.

Market researcher eMarketer said smartphone payments may go up to $118 billion by 2018, which is a huge increase from the level last year of $3.5 billion. Mobile payments are being promoted by companies since they believe customer loyalty will be enhanced with the new service. For example, it is likely for Apple Pay users to continue using their iPhones if their payment data is store in the device. They will also use the device whenever they make other purchases.

The nationwide launch of the payment option of Walmart may come in the first half of next year. Aside from developing its own mobile payment service, Walmart is working with a number of retailers supporting CurrenC, a mobile payments system developed by Merchant Customer Exchange. Lowe’s and Target are among the major retailers supporting the effort.

Walmart Pay was developed outside of CurrentC and the company maintains its commitment to the service developed by Merchant Customer Exchange. The launch of the mobile payments service of Walmart follows an announcement by the company that it is working with Alipay in bringing mobile payments into twenty-five Shenzhen, China stores owned by Walmart. The company said the service will be expanded to around four hundred Sam’s Club and Walmart stores in the country as the retailer aims to increase its sales in the market in China.

Posted by Melanie Mendoza on Friday December 11 2015, 12:06 PM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Shopping. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0