Popular grocery store chain Kroger has launched a new mobile payments service called Kroger Pay, which it will be using in lieu of Apple Pay.
According to a WCPO, a local Cincinnati news site, Kroger Pay launched in Columbus and Colorado today, but will be expanding to all Kroger stores by the end of the year.
Kroger Pay is QR-based, so to pay, users need to open up the app and generate a single-use QR code that's scanned at checkout when making a purchase.
Kroger customers can link any major debit or credit card to the Kroger Pay app, and it also includes a Kroger Rewards debit card for earning fuel points and other rewards with purchases.
"Kroger Pay is one of the few mobile wallets that pairs loyalty and payment," said Mary Ellen Adcock, group vice president of operations. "The application of this exciting technology is another step in our front-end experience transformation."
With Kroger embracing its own payment solution, it looks like the grocery store chain has no plans to introduce support for Apple Pay. Kroger did test support for Apple Pay in stores that support contactless payments, but reportedly discontinued the program "due to little interest by customers."
Kroger in 2018 told a Reddit user that it did not have plans to implement Apple Pay in any of its stores.
Kroger has been working on its payments service for more than two years, and has been accepting the Chase Pay digital wallet since 2017.
Kroger in 2018 told a Reddit user ('https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplePay/comments/8cgu5t/kroger_and_apple_pay/') that it did not have plans to implement Apple Pay in any of its stores.
You don’t implement Apple Pay; Apple and the banks already implemented it. You simply allow Apple Pay to work, along with every other contactless payment method out there.
Starting in 2020, both Visa and MasterCard will require merchants accepting payments via their networks to support contactless payment at all Point-of-Sale terminals in almost every market in the United States. The fallout from that should be interesting, because there are still more than a few large-scale retailers like Kroger who insist on implementing their own payment schemes so they can continue to harvest your data.
For now, I’ll be shopping exclusively at Giant Eagle instead. This is exactly how Walgreens got my loyalty, too.
Also, if you saw “little interest from customers” with Apple Pay, why would you think they would want to pull out their phone, open the app, wait for it to load, click to open the QR Code, and then have it scan.... versus just tapping their iPhone or Watch? This just screams “we want your data how we want it, not the privacy focused Apple way.”
I'll give them another two years before they support Apple Pay, if not sooner if any type of data breach occurs due to their archaic QR based system.
Someone at Kroger should talk to someone at Target to find out why they suddenly are abandoning Target Wallet and starting to support all the major contactless payment systems ...
Tuesday April 30, 2024 10:44 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple is expected to announce iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, and new features have already been rumored for many apps, including Apple Music, Apple Maps, Calculator, Messages, Notes, Safari, and others. Below, we recap iOS 18 rumors on a per-app basis, based on reports from MacRumors, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, and others: Apple Maps: At least two new Apple Maps features are...
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman outlined some of the new products he expects Apple to announce at its "Let Loose" event on May 7. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. First, Gurman now believes there is a "strong possibility" that the upcoming iPad Pro models will be equipped with Apple's next-generation M4 chip, rather than the M3 chip that...
Apple's upcoming iPad Pro models will feature "by far the best OLED tablet panels on the market," according to Display Supply Chain Consultants. Set to be announced on May 7, the OLED iPad Pro models will feature LTPO (a more power efficient form of OLED), a 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate, and a tandem stack and glass thinning that will bring "ultra-thin and light displays" that support high...
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said that iOS 18 will "overhaul" many of Apple's built-in apps, including Notes, Mail, Photos, and Fitness. Gurman did not reveal any specific new features planned for these apps. It was previously rumored that the Notes app will gain support for displaying more math equations, and a built-in option to record voice memos, but this is the first time we have...
Best Buy today has discounted Apple's M1 iPad Air (64GB Wi-Fi) to a new all-time low price of $399.99 in the Starlight color option, down from $599.99. Best Buy says this deal will last through the end of the day, and it's only available in one color at this record low price. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a...
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
With iOS 17.5, Apple is adding a "Repair State" feature that is designed to allow an iPhone to be sent in for service without deactivating Find My and Activation Lock. The fourth iOS 17.5 beta that came out today adds a "Remove This Device" option for all devices in Find My, and using it with an iPhone puts that iPhone into the new Repair State. Right now, sending an iPhone to Apple to be...
Top Rated Comments
Starting in 2020, both Visa and MasterCard will require merchants accepting payments via their networks to support contactless payment at all Point-of-Sale terminals in almost every market in the United States. The fallout from that should be interesting, because there are still more than a few large-scale retailers like Kroger who insist on implementing their own payment schemes so they can continue to harvest your data.
For now, I’ll be shopping exclusively at Giant Eagle instead. This is exactly how Walgreens got my loyalty, too.
Also, if you saw “little interest from customers” with Apple Pay, why would you think they would want to pull out their phone, open the app, wait for it to load, click to open the QR Code, and then have it scan.... versus just tapping their iPhone or Watch? This just screams “we want your data how we want it, not the privacy focused Apple way.”
Um Apple Pay can do this too
Someone at Kroger should talk to someone at Target to find out why they suddenly are abandoning Target Wallet and starting to support all the major contactless payment systems ...