Sam Oliver
Apple's work to expand the footprint of its iPhone-based mobile payment service continues more than half a year after its debut, and while the company expects to bring a number of large merchants on board before the end of 2015, though it appears to be an uphill battle.
"We've spoken to all of the top 100 merchants in the U.S., and about half will accept Apple Pay this year, with many more the following year," an Apple representative told Reuters. Apple Pay is currently available at more than 700,000 retail stores and self-service kiosks — Â like soda machines — Â in the U.S., with a Canadian expansion reportedly on tap.
Some merchants are reluctant to cast their hat in with Apple, however. Of the 98 largest brick-and-mortar retailers in the U.S., "nearly two-thirds" told the news agency that they had no plans to support Apple Pay this year, compared to just 4 that pledged to accept it.
"They have been pushing hard and it's been that way for months," a source at one retailer said, despite that company declining to participate. "They have called and tried to persuade us even after we communicated our decision to them."
Many of those surveyed said that there was not enough demand from customers to justify the capital expenditures necessary to add Apple Pay, while others decried the inability to gather customer information during transactions.
"What is the return on investment?" Ahold USA executive Maureen Elworthy is quoted as saying at an industry event. "The [return] is negative." Ahold USA is the parent company of supermarket chains Giant and Stop&Shop, among others.
Another stumbling block — Â cited by 19 of the retailers — is the restrictive nature of their MCX agreements, which prohibit them from accepting any other mobile payment system save for CurrentC before 2016. It's not clear how ironclad those agreements are, however, as major MCX contributor Best Buy is now offering Apple Pay support.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
46 Comments
My business credit card was just compromised and my personal credit card gets compromised about once a year. If these stores don't provide support for Apple Pay soon, I will no longer be going to those stores. I'm sick of my credit card getting stolen and having to go through the headache of changing information each time.
Guess I won't be shopping at Giant any more either and I live right near their headquarters. Weis Markets and BJs is supporting Apple Pay so I'll be shopping there.
[quote name="jkichline" url="/t/186590/apple-expects-half-of-top-us-merchants-will-accept-apple-pay-by-end-of-2015#post_2731215"]My business credit card was just compromised and my personal credit card gets compromised about once a year. If these stores don't provide support for Apple Pay soon, I will no longer be going to those stores. I'm sick of my credit card getting stolen and having to go through the headache of changing information each time.[/quote] I've reverted to a cash-only policy for most of my transactions these days. The retailers refuse to get their act together, so I avoid the possibility of being further victimized.
"...others decried the inability to gather customer information during transactions."
Oh, so that means it's not just Facebook and Google that want to know everything about what we're going to do before we actually do it!
And this is why it's not a priority for the next "free" iPhone to have ?Pay. The iPhone 7 introduction's "free" phone, yes. The 6S companion, no.