Walmart has made its Walmart Pay mobile payment solution available in its stores in 19 additional U.S. states. The new states include: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
The payments service expanded to 15 other states last month. Those states were: Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia. The service initially kicked off in only Arkansas and Texas, back in May.
The payments solution, built into Walmart’s app for iOS and Android devices, is based on a QR code checkout process which entails opening the app, selecting the “Walmart Pay” option, using the camera to take a photo of the code displayed at the checkout stand, and then waiting for the transaction to be completed, when an electronic receipt is sent to the app. Walmart Pay works with any major credit or debit card, prepaid card, or Walmart gift card.
Walmart Pay Now Available in 37 States
The addition of the new states to the Walmart Pay rolls means the mobile payment service is now available in nearly 5,000 Walmart stores in 37 states. A nationwide rollout is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The company says “mostly any card” can be linked to the service as a payment method. Walmart was one of a number of retailers, including Best Buy and Target, who opted not to support Apple Pay when it debuted in 2014. They instead backed Current C, an alternate payments service. Best Buy has since seen the error of its ways and is now accepting Apple Pay, while Target is now working on its own homegrown solution, much like Walmart did.
The Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) consortium has since announced it is indefinitely postponing the wide release of the CurrentC payments service, and has even shut down a small beta test of the service.
