An exclusive report by Reuters revealed that Target is currently in the early stages of a project to create its own mobile payment system, according to three sources.
The mobile wallet by Target would be following the footsteps of the service launched on Dec. 10 by rival retail company Walmart, Walmart Pay.
While Target, the fourth biggest retailer in the United States, has not made any commitment to see the product through to launch, the mobile wallet could be unveiled as early as next year. However, two of Reuters' sources said that it is still too early to make a more specific prediction on the launch date of Target's mobile payment system.
The mobile wallet, as with the services offered through Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay, will allow customers to purchase items using a smartphone app. The two sources said that Target has decided that it would team up with credit card companies for the service, and is leaning towards the use of scanning technology as the means of communication to payment terminals to process transactions. The third source revealed that no tests have so far been done by Target in its stores.
The mobile payment system being developed by Target will raise new questions on the viability of CurrentC, which is the joint mobile wallet that is being developed by several retail companies including Target and Walmart.
Eddie Baeb, a spokesman for Target, revealed that tests are still ongoing for CurrentC in several stores. The developer of the service is Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX.
Baeb said that the company is also exploring more mobile wallet systems, but declined to issue a comment on whether Target is currently developing its own.
CurrentC has not yet launched, but it is already receiving criticism as a clunky service, especially when compared with the NFC-enabled payment systems offered by Apple, Google and Samsung. The beta version of CurrentC did not even allow users to make payments using their credit cards, with the service's payment options limited only to direct connections to the bank accounts of users, store cards and gift cards.
It is entirely possible that Target thinks it could launch a better solution on its own, especially with the initial disappointment of CurrentC. However, the real challenge is that both customers and merchants have been slow to accept the new mobile payment solutions, but the hope of mobile wallet companies remain that the services will soon take off.
