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Kohl’s Becomes First Retailer to Support Store Payments and Rewards With One Tap in Apple Pay

Wednesday May 4, 2016 6:54 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Kohl's has announced that customers can now pay for their purchases with Kohl’s Charge Cards or other credit or debit cards and simultaneously earn Yes2You Rewards loyalty points with a single tap using Apple Pay.

The combined functionality is currently available in approximately 250 Kohl’s stores in the United States, and the department store chain expects one-tap checkout to be available in all stores nationwide later this month.

Kohl's is the first retailer to offer a one-tap solution for payments and rewards using Apple Pay. Customers can simply add both their Kohl's Charge Card or other payment method and Yes2You Rewards card to Apple Pay and simultaneously pay and collect loyalty points upon checkout with one Touch ID tap for verification.

Kohl's has supported Apple Pay since June 2015, and last October it became the first retailer to allow store-branded cards to be used with the iPhone-based contactless payments service. JCPenney is also rolling out store card support.

Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple Pay is "growing at a tremendous rate," with transaction volume up five times compared to a year ago and the service gaining one million new users per week. Apple Pay is currently available in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, China, and Singapore.

Cook noted that Apple Pay will launch in additional regions "soon," including Hong Kong and Spain through a partnership with American Express later this year. Visa and/or MasterCard support may also be coming soon in countries such as Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Tag: Kohl's

Top Rated Comments

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Pfunstuff

46 months ago

Waiting on you Target...

Rating: 6 Votes

doelcm82

46 months ago

while this is good news, the fact that it's taken so long to get a single retailer to implement this spells doom for the future long-term viability of Apple Pay.

No. It doesn't.

Rating: 6 Votes

cmChimera

46 months ago

whether or not its the first or not, anyway, its critical for apple to get more on board for apple pay to be linked to in-house reward and points loyalty systems. if apple does not succeed at this, meaning that if apple is not willing to cede some margin to allow this, google android samsung and whatever comes along will have opportunity to beat apple. its critical.

Apple already allows it to work, it's up to retailers to implement it.

Rating: 4 Votes

gsmornot

46 months ago

What's critical is the "one-tap" implementation. Of the few stores where I can use Pay, I'm still faced with a series of prompt and responses on a simple credit card transaction, with the ultimate insult having to sign my name.

Pay was supposed to be a convenient safer alternative. Right now the only advantage it has over the chip card, is that sometimes it processes faster.

The main benefit is the one time transaction code tied to a device ID versus your credit card number. This added level of security is the main reason to use the service. Limiting the number of to-do items after scan is a convenience that stores should implement. Even at the same number of steps the security is enough to use the feature.

Rating: 4 Votes

macduke

46 months ago

Problem is, Apple's clientele and Kohl's are at two different ends of the economic spectrum. Can't imagine most Kohl's shoppers having Apple Watches.

I do. People value different things. I'm not sure why people can't get that through their head. I like saving money to buy the things I value and want most.

For instance, I'm closing on a much nicer and bigger new house next month with a great wooded view out the back, but drive a small base model sedan made in the late 90s (although to be fair I'll be replacing it with a nicer used Outback later this summer since we're having our second kid). I make my own sack lunches for work, but have an Apple Watch, iPhone 6s, iPad Air 2 and rMBP. I shop at Kohls and Gap for a lot of my clothes, and yet have thousands of dollars in high-end camera gear.

You see, I just don't care a lot about cars, or eating out, or wearing fancy clothes (which to me look mostly the same). I save my money and buy stuff with credit, which earns cash back rewards, and then I pay off my cards every month. And I'm certain there are far cheaper people than me who buy Apple Watches. The whole point of budgeting is to dial in your expenses so you spend less on things you don't care about, and save more for the stuff you really freaking want.

Rating: 3 Votes

Ivan0310

46 months ago

Waiting on you Target...

I don't know if this could be a simultaneous deal, but I'm waiting for Target to get their RedCards on Apple Pay, and I would love it if they made Cartwheel compatible as well.

Rating: 3 Votes

gaximus

46 months ago

I think this is because of how the retailer implements ApplePay. I know when Walgreens first had ApplePay, I had to type in my pin number, select no cash back, and decline the donation. Then they had an update and now it works by just getting my watch close to it, and getting a nice satisfying tap on my wrist that the payment is done.

Rating: 2 Votes

jbachandouris

46 months ago

This may cause me to shop at Kohl's more often...maybe...

Rating: 2 Votes

gsmornot

46 months ago

So, I don't have a Kohls card and don't want one but do shop there from time to time. If I have a Yes2You rewards card setup can I add that to ApplePay and pay with my regular card and get the points all in one go or is this only tied to the Kohls card transaction?

I would like to pay at places that offer rewards and get the rewards at the same time without having to use/manage store brand cards. I prefer to just have a debit card and single credit card.

Rating: 2 Votes