Reuters: Retailer Take-Up of Apple Pay Slow (June 8, 2015)
Reuters research suggests Apple may be having more trouble signing up top retailers to accept Apple Pay than the tech company anticipated.
Apple CEO Tim Cook last January told investors that 2015 will be the year of Apple Pay. An Apple spokesperson also recently told Reuters that half of the top U.S. retailers will begin accepting Apple Pay this year, with many more to follow next year. Reuters research—which was conducted with the National Retail Federation (NRF) and included interviews with analysts and merchants—suggests otherwise.
Although some top merchants accept Apple Pay, such as McDonald’s, Macy’s, Walgreens and Foot Locker, less than one-fourth of the top retailers currently accept it, and almost two-thirds said they would not be accepting the payment method this year. Only four retailers said they plan to accept Apple Pay in the next year.
Top reasons retailers gave for not accepting Apple Pay included: not enough customer demand, lack of access to data generated by Apple Pay transactions and the cost of technology to facilitate the payments. Some retailers said they’re holding out for a new mobile payment system to be launched by a coalition of retailers later this year. Merchant Customer Exchange’s (MCX) CurrentC is supported by Walmart, Rite Aid and CVS/pharmacy, among others.
For Reuters’ research, the news agency worked from the list of the NRF’s top 100 U.S. retailers and surveyed the 98 that have brick-and-mortar locations. Eighty-five of the companies surveyed provided detailed responses, and 11 others supplied information only about Apple Pay acceptance. Two did not respond.
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