Tap to Pay is coming to Walmart and its subsidiary Sam’s Club, allowing customers to make convenient, contactless payments at the checkout for the first time.
For years, shoppers at Walmart and Sam’s Club had to insert or swipe a physical credit card or pay in cash, rather than simply tap their card or mobile device. The retailers said the launch of Tap to Pay for customers and members forms part of a broader effort to make managing and using their money easier.
When Tap to Pay Arrives
Tap to Pay is rolling out from Monday 24 August in selected Walmart and Sam’s Club stores, and will eventually be available at all US-based locations by the end of the year. Petrol stations at some large Walmart Supercentres and most Sam’s Club warehouse locations will offer the payment option by mid-2027.
Customers will also be able to add eligible Sam’s Club, OnePay and Walmart cards to their digital wallet. Tap-to-pay methods use short-range wireless technology to send locked payment data from a phone, watch or card to a checkout reader without physical contact.
A Change of Approach
Walmart had held out on implementing Tap to Pay for some time, preventing transactions through Google Pay, Samsung Pay or Apple Pay, even as retail competitors rolled out the feature years earlier. Target, for example, made digital payments available in 2019.
It remains unclear what prompted the change. One potential explanation is a response to customer frustration over the retailer’s earlier refusal to support mobile payments, a technology built into nearly every smartphone today. It is also possible that Walmart had avoided enabling Apple Pay and Google Pay to steer customers towards its own Walmart Pay app, which shared their shopping data.
The retailer shared the news on its Instagram account alongside a video showing numerous complaints about the absence of Tap to Pay at the checkout. Many Instagram users welcomed the change.
Tap to Pay will be available at all Walmart and Sam’s Club locations by the end of the year.
