Walmart refuses to admit it might be better off accepting Apple Pay

2 min readUpdated May 28, 2025May 22, 20235:40 AM

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If you use Apple Pay or Google Pay when you checkout at the supermarket. the pharmacy, or other retail stores, you see how convenient the whole thing is even if you have to use your fingerprint or face to verify your identity. Apple and Google take such a small slice of your purchase that the big money is made on volume. For example, Apple is believed to earn .15% (not 15% but .15%) of the value of a transaction paid for with Apple Pay. So a $10 purchase gives a penny and a half to Apple while a $100 purchase puts 15 cents in its pocket.

When you think about how many times a day an iPhone is whipped out to cover a purchase, you can see that even while getting crumbs from your transaction cake, it adds up to plenty of money for the company over a single 24-hour day. Apple would probably be collecting more money from Apple Pay if the nation’s largest retailer was onboard. Yes, that’s right. You cannot use Apple Pay at Walmart.

Considering that every day the discount retailer brings in almost $1.6 billion in revenue, certainly a small percentage of that money would have ended up in Apple’s coffers thanks to Apple Pay. Walmart does have its own Walmart Pay system that works with QR codes. We first told you about Walmart Pay when the retailer was expanding it back in 2016 and it just has not caught on the way Walmart thought it would.

Walmart’s former Senior VP Daniel Eckert told Bloomberg in 2017 that Walmart Pay would soon surpass Apple Pay in the number of shoppers who use the service in eligible stores. At the time, Eckert said, “If daily enrollments don’t slow down, I think that’s pretty well in the cards shortly. I would have to imagine we are getting pretty close.” Those words go right up there with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s initial response to the iPhone when he said about Windows Mobile, “I like our strategy. I like it a lot…right now we’re selling millions and millions and millions of phones a year. Apple is selling zero phones a year.”

Looking at Walmart, it’s hard to believe that giving up .15% of the value of a transaction is going to do damage to the company’s profit margin dramatically. And it could more than make up the difference by getting back some of the business that has gone to Target and other retailers that support Apple Pay. Perhaps the company is too invested in Walmart Pay to admit it has made a mistake.

With that in mind, kudos to Kroger for realizing that not allowing the use of Apple Pay at the cash register was not a good strategy. Now we’ll see whether Walmart can make its own admission. We should also point out that Walmart does not accept Google Pay or any other mobile or digital wallet.

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Questions & Answers

What is the primary reason Walmart does not accept Apple Pay?

Walmart has its own mobile payment system, Walmart Pay, which uses QR codes. The article suggests the company might be too invested in this system to acknowledge any potential missteps in its adoption.

How much does Apple reportedly earn from an Apple Pay transaction?

Apple is believed to earn 0.15% of the value of each transaction made using Apple Pay. This means a £10 purchase would give Apple 1.5 pence, and a £100 purchase would contribute 15 pence.

Did Walmart Pay achieve the success the company anticipated?

No, Walmart Pay has not caught on as well as Walmart expected. A former Senior VP predicted in 2017 that it would soon surpass Apple Pay in usage, but this has not materialised.

How could accepting Apple Pay potentially benefit Walmart?

Accepting Apple Pay could help Walmart regain business from competitors like Target, which already supports the service. The article implies the small transaction fee would not significantly impact Walmart's profit margins.

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