Walmart launched its own QR-based Walmart Pay in 2016
QR code-based Walmart Pay started up in 2016
Walmart’s former Senior VP Daniel Eckert told Bloomberg in 2017 that Walmart Pay would soon surpass Apple Pay in the number of shoppers who use the service in eligible stores. At the time, Eckert said, “If daily enrollments don’t slow down, I think that’s pretty well in the cards shortly. I would have to imagine we are getting pretty close.” Those words go right up there with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s initial response to the iPhone when he said about Windows Mobile, “I like our strategy. I like it a lot…right now we’re selling millions and millions and millions of phones a year. Apple is selling zero phones a year.”
Some tweets blast Walmart for not accepting Apple Pay
Looking at Walmart, it’s hard to believe that giving up .15% of the value of a transaction is going to dramatically do damage to the company’s profit margin. And it could more than make up the difference by getting back some of the business that has gone to Target and other retailers that support Apple Pay. Perhaps the company is just too invested in Walmart Pay to admit that it has made a mistake.
