Apple enticing retail shoppers to sign up for Apple Pay with $5 promo

AppleInsider

A promotion starting this week in the U.K. and U.S. to boost adoption numbers for Apple Pay gives users $5 in iTunes credit to users willing to sign up for and pay with the service inside Apple's own retail stores.

The Apple Pay signup offer has retail employees in Apple Stores walking new users through the setup process for the payment service, including linking a compatible bank account for payment. After initial setup, and after the purchase in the Apple Retail store, the $5 is awarded on the spot.

Users can keep the $5 credit, even if the purchased item is returned. AppleInsider has learned that to qualify for the service, the user must present a device without Apple Pay enabled. Existing users are disqualified from receiving the credit.

In February, Apple claimed that the Apple Pay service was available at more than two million retail locations. Rapid adoption has been held up somewhat in the US by slow rollout of EMV chip-card-compatible credit card readers necessary for Apple Pay, with only one in five retailers on-board with the new technology.

Additionally, Apple Pay implementation in Safari, called "Pay on the Web" will launch as part of the macOS Sierra update this fall. Users will see an Apple Pay button during checkout with supporting merchants, and authorize the transaction via Continuity using Touch ID on an iPhone, or with a currently-worn, unlocked Apple Watch.

thrang

Big Apple user, but this looks weak. They are not gaining traction with retailers, that's the problem - a $5 credit doesn't address the problem

rwes

thrang said:

Big Apple user, but this looks weak. They are not gaining traction with retailers, that's the problem - a $5 credit doesn't address the problem

Agreed, but if this results in a lot more (-Apple-) shoppers attempting to use it (elsewhere), and if they find it convenient enough to begin to use it only at retailers which support it, it could push adoption with the retailers dragging their feet?

It seems kind of like the chicken and the egg problem. Retailers aren't adopting, because they're not seeing the consumer demand maybe, but (most) consumers aren't adopting because they don't know and Apple seems to (or thinks anyway) that they're in the position to educate consumers and drive the demand possibly?

maestro64

I live a small town and I have been finding more and more little mom and pop stores jumping on Apple Pay. This has been surprising since I did not expect them to make the change. I finding more larger chains not switching. They have not even changed to chip and pin yet. They are block the slot to slide the card in.

I am happy to see more local stores supporting Apple Pay, but they are not supporting Android or Samsung Pay.

slprescott

A positive sign:

My employer's cafeteria service (Sysco) recently changed its wireless payment solution from a solution usable only here (Freedom Pay) to a solution usable in multiple places (Apple Pay).  So now I can use Apple Pay to buy lunch every day... yay!  Hopefully a trend.

mike1

maestro64 said:

I live a small town and I have been finding more and more little mom and pop stores jumping on Apple Pay. This has been surprising since I did not expect them to make the change. I finding more larger chains not switching. They have not even changed to chip and pin yet. They are block the slot to slide the card in.

I am happy to see more local stores supporting Apple Pay, but they are not supporting Android or Samsung Pay.

I too have had the same experience. While the big chains try to get their act together, the smaller chains and mom and pop stores are accepting more and more by me. This does beg one question, though...

Is there a way to tell if a merchant is actually accepting Apple Pay or just has an NFC terminal that accepts the cardless payment?

nolamacguy

thrang said:

Big Apple user, but this looks weak. They are not gaining traction with retailers, that's the problem - a $5 credit doesn't address the problem

looks weak to whom? which stakeholder?

retailers who don't support are almost exclusively those who don't have NFC POSTs. that will change, without a doubt. and as they upgrade their equipment, guess what? they take AP. 

rogifan_new

I have two family members that can't be bothered to use Pay. One, because they're not sure how to set it up and two because swiping their credit card is something they're used to doing and doesn't take a lot of time. I think Apple could do a lot more educating people on the benefits of Pay and how to set it up. The more people that use it and ask retailers to support it the more it will be adopted.

sirlance99

maestro64 said:

I live a small town and I have been finding more and more little mom and pop stores jumping on Apple Pay. This has been surprising since I did not expect them to make the change. I finding more larger chains not switching. They have not even changed to chip and pin yet. They are block the slot to slide the card in.

I am happy to see more local stores supporting Apple Pay, but they are not supporting Android or Samsung Pay.

If they accept Apple Pay, they accept Android and all other forms of NFC payment's.

I try and use Apple Pay whenever I can not because it's faster than a CC, which it's not really, but because of the NFC security measures all NFC payment tokenization provides.

It's great because I'm starting to see more signage for stores that are promoting Apple Pay and Android Pay together. My Walgreens has it posted right on the front door and again once you get to the POS. A little Apple Pay and Android Pay icon side by side. 

supadav03

thrang said:

Big Apple user, but this looks weak. They are not gaining traction with retailers, that's the problem - a $5 credit doesn't address the problem

I agree. They definetly need to get more aggressive with getting retailers on board BUT there are a lot of users who haven't signed up for Apple Pay and dont even know what it is. This could help get those people signed up and inturn, get more retailers interested if customers continue to ask and inquire about its acceptance at their stores. This is anecdotal, but I have 11 iPhones users in my immediate family and I'm the only one who uses Apple Pay on a regular basis. Most haven't even signed up and the 1-2 that have only used it once or twice when I prompted them to after signing up. So customer awareness is still a roadblock that needs to be overcome.

badmonk

When ApplePay is set up appropriately (like Walgreens, Panera or Fresh Market) it absolutely rocks.  What will speed adoption is when people start to use chip enabled credit cards with more frequency...so painfully slow.

What surprises me is the number of large retailers who haven't moved beyond magnetic strip credit card readers especially with the large profile hackings of these systems (Target, HomeDepot).

thrang

badmonk said:

When ApplePay is set up appropriately (like Walgreens, Panera or Fresh Market) it absolutely rocks.  What will speed adoption is when people start to use chip enabled credit cards with more frequency...so painfully slow.

What surprises me is the number of large retailers who haven't moved beyond magnetic strip credit card readers especially with the large profile hackings of these systems (Target, HomeDepot).

Yes, I use it wherever I can - Walgreens, two local supermarkets, wine shop, and apple store of course...but that's about it. Well, I now use the Exxon SppedPass app, and actively look for Exxon stations to use it, so that's a good example of that tech driving business differently...

Bloomingdales as well, but I rarely shop there.

When banks start rolling out Apple Pay/NFC for their ATM's, I think that will be a large help.

What happened to Starbucks? They announced support a year ago, and nothing...

thrang

I do use it wherever I can - Walgreeb's Apple Store, local supermarkets...and I now use the Exxon SpeedPass app with ApplePay support, and am exclusively looking for Exxon gas stations to refill unless I'm in a pinch... I think when banks start adding NFC/Apple Pay support to their ATMs, there will be increased attention. That, and the big on - online shopping support (will Amazon ever bother? haha...maybe Jet, the new kid on the block...)

maestro64

mike1 said:

maestro64 said:

I live a small town and I have been finding more and more little mom and pop stores jumping on Apple Pay. This has been surprising since I did not expect them to make the change. I finding more larger chains not switching. They have not even changed to chip and pin yet. They are block the slot to slide the card in.

I am happy to see more local stores supporting Apple Pay, but they are not supporting Android or Samsung Pay.

I too have had the same experience. While the big chains try to get their act together, the smaller chains and mom and pop stores are accepting more and more by me. This does beg one question, though...

Is there a way to tell if a merchant is actually accepting Apple Pay or just has an NFC terminal that accepts the cardless payment?

The place I am going specifically call out they are accepting Apple Pay, they are advertising the fact and I had a few notice my watch and said I could use my watch to pay.

maestro64

mike1 said:

maestro64 said:

I live a small town and I have been finding more and more little mom and pop stores jumping on Apple Pay. This has been surprising since I did not expect them to make the change. I finding more larger chains not switching. They have not even changed to chip and pin yet. They are block the slot to slide the card in.

I am happy to see more local stores supporting Apple Pay, but they are not supporting Android or Samsung Pay.

I too have had the same experience. While the big chains try to get their act together, the smaller chains and mom and pop stores are accepting more and more by me. This does beg one question, though...

Is there a way to tell if a merchant is actually accepting Apple Pay or just has an NFC terminal that accepts the cardless payment?

The stores I go into are specifically advertising they support Apple Pay. A few times they saw my watch and said they I could pay with my watch. They are definitely promoting it. I also been in places with the NFC terminal with the logo and tries using my apple pay and did not work and had the story say they are not supporting it.

loquitur

It's still a gimmick if in addition you have to scribble a signature, as in many cases (large grocery stores in S.F. Bay Area),
or otherwise retry the transaction again after it already says "done" because the taker didn't push the right button, etc.

yodamac

My problem is that my credit union still doesn't take part in Apple Pay, so I can't sign up for it.  :-(

jony0

sirlance99 said:

I try and use Apple Pay whenever I can not because it's faster than a CC, which it's not really, but because of the NFC security measures all NFC payment tokenization provides. 

It's not faster than an NFC equipped CC but it is definitely faster than an EMV (Chip & PIN but no NFC) that requires a few more keystrokes other than the 4 for the PIN itself. And of course it's faster than the older swipe & sign as well, if memory serves. I had trouble the first few times I used it, but what has worked flawlessly so far for me is to not turn the phone on, I just let the top of the phone rest on the screen of the POST, then the phone turns on with the CC and TouchID logos, apply thumb for a second until the beep, done.

Also I don't believe tokenization is an NFC thing, I think it's a CC thing, specifically the CC issuer, but enabled by NFC. The NFC technology limitations does rear its ugly head though for  Pay in some retailers up here in Canada, as I was refused a transaction greater than 100 $. I'm not sure if their system is programmed as such with that legacy limit or if it simply doesn't recognize  Pay at all and just treats the transaction as a plain NFC enabled CC.