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.
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Top Rated Comments
(View all)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.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.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.
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.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.
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.
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.