Businesses are striving to stay on top of trends in consumer behavior, and mobile payments have been a hotbed of activity. Walmart Pay just rolled out nationwide, and the company is hoping that the app will help them collect more information about how customers use their products and make purchasing decisions. Credit card processing has seen huge changes recently, and new mobile payment apps like Walmart Pay and Apple Pay are certainly capitalizing on this trend.
Mobile Applications are seeing a ton of investment from the tech sphere, and Walmart is only one of the many companies trying to launch their propriety applications for their customers. The applications are supposed to make purchases easier for consumers. The app can track purchase history, which will allow customers to reorder frequently purchased items.
The application also speeds up the checkout process in-store, which is intended to increase the frequency that customers will visit Walmart and open their wallets. Walmart Pay is also intended to provide more information to the company. Businesses of all sizes are interested in the big data trend, and this application will help them further analyze the purchases and products that customers are viewing.
Walmart Pay also incorporates mobile payments, another major industry trend. Other apps like Apple Pay have been allowing consumers to create e-wallets that allow them to pay using their smartphones. This has been a major shakeup for credit card processing firms, and there have been many startups looking to help companies take mobile payments. While mobile payments have yet to catch on in a major way in the United States, Walmart is hoping that they can help move the needle on this.
The company is rolling out the application nation-wide, after testing the product in smaller markets across the United States. The application does not yet support third-party e-wallets, but customers can currently connect the application with debit, credit and prepaid cards. The company might decide to pair with Apple Pay in the future, but for now the options are slightly more limited. Time will tell if this application sees mainstream adoption. One thing is for sure, the evolution of e-wallets and retailer applications is going to be a transformative force for firms that do credit card processing.