Apple Pay holiday promotions offer online shoppers free rush shipping, discounts, rewards

AppleInsider

A new initiative intended to drive Apple Pay use on the web, coinciding with the debut of Touch ID on the new MacBook Pro, offers shoppers exclusive offers and discounts this holiday season.

A new section on Apple's website announced the promotion, revealing exclusive deals available when using Apple Pay on the web in Safari. Touch ID capable devices with Apple Pay, including the new MacBook Pro and iPhone 7, are required to qualify.

Partners highlighted by Apple include:

• Adidas
  
• Casper
  
• Grubhub
  
• Instacart
  
• JackThreads
  
• Jet
  
• Lululemon
  
• 1-800-Flowers.com
  
• The New York Times
  
• Overstock
  
• Seamless
  
• Shopify
  
• Spring
  
• Vacatia

Apple has also promised that new merchants --?as well as some banks --?will be jumping on with their own promotions soon. They include:

• Abercrombie & Fitch
  
• Bank of America
  
• Caviar
  
• Chase
  
• Hollister
  
• Poshmark
  
• Tumi
  
• Under Armour
  
• Warby Parker

Similar promotions were done by Apple in the past, offering discounts and rewards when using Apple Pay for in-app purchases. The company has also incentivized adding credit cards to Apple Pay by offering a $5 iTunes gift card when enrolling in an Apple retail store.

slprescott

Good.

I love Apple Pay and use it daily, but incentives like this may be necessary to drive uptake beyond the 'early adopters' such as many of us on this forum.

To-date, the reasons for Apple Pay have been subtle (to some people):
  - "more secure!"
  - "more convenient!"

Those are both absolutely true... but not necessarily compelling enough to change behavior of very established buying patterns.  Adding a true FINANCIAL reward for using Apple Pay may begin to turn the tide.

macgui

I was in Target today and asked the checker if they used Apple Pay (VeraPhone reader with screen). She was absolutely clueless. "You can try, maybe". 

Apparently they don't, so I used my card which is chipped. What fun than was. I've used the slot maybe three times so far. Every time feels like the first time and takes soooo much longer than even swiping the card. Readers in other countries are supposed to be faster.