Costco Activates Contactless Payments in US Locations

There is now a faster and easier way to checkout at the United States’ biggest wholesale club. Costco has activated contactless payments at its point-of-sale terminals in US locations, according to a new report from Payments Source published Tuesday.

Costco, the sixth most valuable retail brand in the world and second largest retailer worldwide in 2016 according to Statista, will accept both NFC-enabled cards and Apple Pay through contactless payments at its US stores, Payments Source reports. The store is also rumored to be testing a digital membership card, Payments Source notes, though Costco was not available to comment on the story.

“We’ve added additional mobile payment options to make your next visit more convenient: Costco members can now use Apple Pay, Google Wallet and Samsung Pay at U.S. Costco locations,” Costco management told Transaction Trends in an email.

Costco made headlines two years ago when it announced its co-branded Citi Visa card would be contactless-enabled.

Costco has over 500 warehouses store locations in the United States, according to Statista, putting it in the top 20 leading American retailers by number of stores. Costco’s retail revenue topped $118 billion in 2016, making it the second largest retailer in the world behind WalMart. Costco has over 90 million members worldwide, according to Statista.

Costco’s activation comes at a period of growth in contactless card payments in the United States. According to a report from A.T. Kearny, released in late July and titled “Why US Banks Should Make Contactless Cards an Immediate Priority,” rolling out contactless cards in the US market can yield strategic and economic benefits to merchants, financial institutions and consumers.

The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), the voice of the payments technology industry, has been part of the continuing effort to support the growth of contactless payments through its Contactless Task Force. The task force includes executive leaders from all relevant segments of the payments technology industry, including all major card networks, payment processors and merchant acquirers, financial institutions, software and tech firms, hardware developers and sales channel organizations.

Check out this Transaction Trending podcast with Liz Ryan, EVP of Wells Fargo Merchant Services and ETA Contactless Task Force co-chair, for more information on contactless payments in the United States.