Walmart on Thursday introduced Walmart Pay — the ability to pay at the register with smartphones.
The new Walmart app works with any iOS or Android device that can download it, and with any major credit, debit, prepaid, or Walmart gift card. Customers can scan a QR code displayed at the register with their smartphones, instead of swiping or inserting a card at the payment terminal. An eReceipt is sent to the app and can be viewed at any time.
Walmart Pay will be introduced this month in select stores near Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. A nationwide launch to be complete by the first half of next year.
“Walmart Pay is the latest example — and a powerful addition — of how we are transforming the shopping experience by seamlessly connecting online, mobile and stores for the 140 million customers who shop with us weekly,” Walmart Global eCommerce president and chief executive Neil Ashe said in a press release.
USA Today said that the feature is Walmart’s latest bid to reduce the friction that can come from shopping in stores and better serve mobile customers, who are increasingly making up a larger portion of retailers’ customer bases. This year’s holiday shopping season has seen mobile orders and browsing soar as consumers have become more comfortable shopping on their smartphones.
Nearly half of Walmart’s online orders over Thanksgiving weekend came from mobile devices, and customers in stores used the app at nearly twice the rate they did during the same period last year, Walmart executives said.