You can find almost anything in a Walmart Supercenter, but there’s one thing you won’t see: a tap-to-pay option at checkout.
The retail giant has maintained its longstanding position of avoiding NFC-based payments, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, as well as certain contactless credit cards, despite other major retailers increasingly accepting the technology.
But that’s not to say there aren’t any contactless payment options for shoppers to use.
Walmart has previously pointed to its Walmart Pay app, its own touchless payment option, as well as the Scan and Go feature within its app that lets Walmart Plus and Sam’s Club members skip the checkout lane, as convenient alternatives to NFC payments.
The strategy has left no shortage of customers confused over the years when they’ve tried to whip out their iPhone to pay at checkout — even YouTuber MrBeast was flummoxed by the lack of a tap option.
“Younger consumers in particular are so used to using Apple Pay and tap-to-pay with their phones that they’re coming to expect it,” EMARKETER principal retail analyst Sky Canaves told Business Insider. (EMARKETER is owned by Axel Springer, Business Insider’s parent company.)
More and more, shoppers are frustrated when a retailer doesn’t have a digital payment option for situations when they’ve left their cash or cards behind, she said.
However, social media reactions aside, there are a few reasons this approach aligns with Walmart’s broader retail strategy.
For one thing, while tap-to-pay doesn’t incur additional fees beyond the standard processing charges, there is a cost to upgrading the hardware to accept NFC-based transactions. That can add up fast when a company has more than 5,200 clubs and stores in the US, with dozens of payment terminals per location.
GlobalData retail analyst Neil Saunders also said Walmart doesn’t typically do things that add cost without delivering a significant benefit for customers.
If the company is providing a good contactless alternative through its own apps, it doesn’t really need to offer NFC-based payments, Saunders said.
But Canaves said that what may have started as a cost-savings decision has since evolved into a revenue-driving opportunity.
For instance, digital devices like Apple Pay often anonymize credit card numbers in a way that can make it harder for retailers to link purchases with a particular shopper.
That means there’s a larger advantage for Walmart to prefer its own tools: data.
When Walmart shoppers use its in-house apps and credit cards to complete purchases, it helps the company build a more detailed picture of their habits and trends than it would otherwise have.
That’s not unique to Walmart, of course — Amazon, Target, Costco, and almost every other retailer are gathering intel about their shoppers through apps, credit cards, and memberships as well.
It’s possible that Walmart could change its mind in the future, but for now, the company seems to be doing just fine by bucking the trend.
