Apple announced on Wednesday that its contactless payments system, Apple Pay is now available at over 2 million retail locations, with more on the way. The payments service will soon rollout to Crate & Barrel, Chick-fil-A and Au Bon Pain.
Online retailer Zappos.com added Apple Pay on its iPhone and iPad apps Tuesday as competition intensifies among mobile payment providers. Globally, mobile payments will increase to US$620 billion in 2016 from US$450 billion last year, according to a report from TrendForce.
Zapos.com said it made the move to add Apple Pay as a payment option in its iOS apps after receiving numerous requests from customers to add the feature.
“We’ve been getting requests from customers to use Apple Pay for quite a while,” said Aki Iida, head of mobile for Zappos. “It makes the customer experience easier, why not try it?”
The over 2 million retail locations now accepting the Apple’s payments service easily surpasses its goal of making it available in 1.5 million locations by the end of 2015. The Cupertino-based firm also noted in-app purchase volume using the feature more than doubled in the last six months of 2015.
Apple still faces a challenge in convincing its customers to use Apple Pay in stores, as many are still reluctant to use the service, and most in-store terminals don’t as yet accept Apple Pay, but that number is growing every day. In October, it was reported by Pymnts and InfoScout, a consumer researcher, that 16.6% of people who own newer iPhones had tried Apple Pay, an increase from 9% in November 2014.
Apple Pay expanded to the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada in 2015, and Apple is set to expand the service to China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Spain in 2016.
