Walmart would much rather you use Walmart Pay
Despite widespread adoption, Walmart has doubled down and gone on record saying it will not accept NFC-based payments like Apple Pay — in the U.S., at least.
Walmart has more than 4,500 stores in the United States, and exactly zero of them accept Apple Pay. Or Google Pay. Or even tap-to-pay with your credit or debit card.
This is because the big box retailer has decided to eschew NFC-based payments altogether. And it looks like it’s going to stay that way, too.
A Walmart representative reached out to MacRumors and provided them with the following statement.
We do not accept NFC and instead have implemented convenient solutions, such as Walmart Pay, that provide our customers easy, touchless payments on any smartphone. We have also invested in innovative technologies that go beyond payments, such as Scan & Go, which allow Sam’s Club and Walmart+ members to bypass the checkout altogether, providing a truly touchless shopping experience.
The company has spent more than a decade working on its own self-purportedly convenient ways to pay. This includes Walmart Pay, which allows customers to scan a QR code to pay with a card saved to their Walmart account. Walmart Pay has been available since 2016.
Of course, this means a customer would need to have a Walmart account, save a credit or debit card to their account, and then have the Walmart app on their phone. It’s hardly as set-it-and-forget-it as Apple Pay.
Walmart+ subscribers can utilize another feature, Scan & Go to scan barcodes of products while shopping. Then, they can skip the checkout line entirely.
So, Walmart seems dedicated to avoiding NFC payments for as long as possible in favor of pushing consumers to use its in-house solutions. At least in the U.S., that is. As MacRumors points out, Canadian Walmart stores have accepted Apple Pay since 2020.
Apple Pay launched on October 20, 2014, making the service just over a decade old. A recent study showed that customers love the ease of use, security, and privacy it provides.
Most major retailers now accept Apple Pay, as well as other forms of NFC-based payment. Even some notable holdouts like Midwest grocery retailer Kroger and home improvement chain The Home Depot have begun accepting Apple Pay in recent years.
