Since Walmart sells everything from toothpaste to groceries to clothing, many American families spend a large portion of their monthly budget at the big-box store. Naturally, this makes how they pay at Walmart just as important as how much they’re paying—which is why the retailer announced that they’re introducing instant bank payments for online purchases. The move is seemingly a win-win for the corporation (it’ll alleviate those credit card transaction fees) and the consumer (payments will be made in real time as opposed to sitting as “pending” for up to a few days).
For quite some time, Walmart shoppers have been frustrated that the store doesn’t accept Apple Pay. Instead, customers can use Walmart Pay, which is accessed via the Walmart app. In June, the company introduced a pay-by-bank option to Walmart Pay in partnership with the Automated Clearing House (ACH), in which shoppers could link their bank accounts with the app. However, transactions completed with ACH take one to three days to clear, notes Payments Dive.
However, despite this lag in processing, the company was pleasantly surprised with how the pay-by-bank option was received. “It’s certainly surpassed our expectations of the amount of customers that have registered and actually use the payment type,” Henry said, via the Portland Press Herald.
To make the service even more shopper-friendly, Walmart is now partnering with Fiserv, a global fintech and payments company that offers a real-time transaction technology.