Walmart does not want its customers to waste time in getting their wallet out of their pockets. Instead, it wants them to use its new digital payment method - the Walmart Pay (yes, the name rings a bell).
Walmart commenced rolling out the Walmart Pay on Thursday, Dec. 10, initially in chosen stores in Bentonville, Arkansas. This makes it the first retailer to have its very own mobile payments solution which works on Android and iOS handsets.
Instead of swiping a card at the payment terminal, this payment method lets consumers pay for their purchases in stores by scanning the QR code they can find at the checkout.
The Walmart Pay, which can be spotted within the Walmart app, will let customers store their debit card, credit card, gift card or prepaid card. Upon opening up the Walmart app and selecting the Walmart Pay, buyers should then scan the code on the card reader using the smartphone's camera.
"We're making it as simple to pay in the store as it is to pay online," said Walmart's CEO of global e-commerce Neil Ashe.
Walmart targets to roll out this mobile payments solution in all its stores across the U.S. by the first half of 2016.
The world's biggest retailer is in high hopes that this will help drive loyalty among its buyers by making this app more important to them and helping Walmart build a deeper connection with shoppers.
Edward Jones' consumer research analyst Brian Yarbrough, however, believes that this solution is not going to drive more customers into the company.
In the meantime, Daniel Eckert, Walmart U.S.' senior vice president of services, pointed out that Walmart Pay has the capacity to integrate with other mobile wallets. This suggests that other mobile payment services, such as Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay, could also be integrated down the road.
Based on the data disclosed by ComScore, Walmart app already notched 24 million active users in October.
Furthermore, Walmart also intends to fork $2 billion out of its pocket to reinforce its e-commerce operations within the next two years. It appears that it centered its attention in beefing up its shopping app in time for the holiday season. Presently, shoppers can now check in when they head over to a store to send a signal to staff that they are there to pick up the items they purchased online.
