Wal-Mart Pay Opens to Payments Partnerships

Wal-Mart has announced that it will open its private label payments platform, Wal-Mart Pay, to third party partners. Wal-Mart launched its QR code based payments app last December. Wal-Mart Pay is accepted at all 4,600 U.S. Wal-Mart stores, but has faced slow adoption, possibly because the QR system creates more friction that an NFC tap-to-pay purchase or a traditional credit card transaction. Some QR code payments platforms, such as Starbucks or CVS, have enjoyed success, but they linked to loyalty rewards programs, something Wal-Mart Pay has yet to effectively leverage.

The announcement that Wal-Mart is in negotiations with “several mobile wallet companies” presents possibilities for accelerated mobile acceptance, but thus far, the only new partner made public is Chase Pay, the company which was also named as the “premier partner” for the MCX CurrentC app, a retailer-driven payments platform, whose launch has been delayed. Chase Pay has also entered bilateral partnerships with other retailers initially meant to be included in the CurrentC consortium.

Read more from Wal-Mart on its Wal-Mart Pay platform here.