Kohl's begins accepting store-issued credit cards via Apple Pay

Posted:
in iPhone edited October 2015
Apple on Tuesday updated its Apple Pay roster to include Kohl's, marking the arrival of the platform's first store-branded credit card.




As of today, shoppers can add a Kohl's Charge Card to their Apple Pay account, the department store chain recently announced via Twitter. The company suggested that people should be able to able to add their card at the time of a transaction.

Still missing from Apple's issuer list are store card partners that were announced at WWDC 2015 in June, such as JCPenney and BJ's Wholesale Club. The addition of Kohl's might, however, signal that more will follow shortly.

At WWDC, Apple also revealed that iOS 9's Wallet app would enable support for loyalty and reward plans, among them Kohl's Yes2You Reward program.

Apple Pay now has well over 600 participating card issuers in the U.S. alone, as well as 13 in the U.K. Apple has had a much harder time persuading merchants to adopt the platform, though some American examples include Chevron, Foot Locker, GameStop, McDonald's, Walgreens, and Whole Foods.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 24
    rob55rob55 Posts: 1,291member

    This might be the final push my wife needs to upgrade her aging iPhone 5. ;)

  • Reply 2 of 24
    rob55rob55 Posts: 1,291member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

     

    Why are merchants so against Apple Pay?

     

    What if Apple meet them in the middle and offered to share customer data?  Would that help?  I can't imagine merchants turning down Apple if they got customer data back from Apple in return.

     

    I know Cook's stance is to protect privacy.  But at what cost?  People want ApplePay to work everywhere but because of privacy merchants are not interested.

     

    I'm willing to sacrifice some privacy for more convience. 




    But if Apple ends up supporting loyalty and reward programs, then that should be all the customer data the merchant needs. 

  • Reply 3 of 24
    Great, all my cards work with Apple Pay, now if only the places I shopped accepted them. It's like new and scary for them just to accept cards with chips now. When I was in France, I couldn't even use a credit care without a chip. Vendors really need to update their equipment and get with it. For the last month the local Rite Aid pharmacy has a sign that it accepts Apple Pay, but has yet to hook up their terminal. Sad.
  • Reply 4 of 24
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

     

    Why are merchants so against Apple Pay?

     

    What if Apple meet them in the middle and offered to share customer data?  Would that help?  I can't imagine merchants turning down Apple if they got customer data back from Apple in return.

     

    I know Cook's stance is to protect privacy.  But at what cost?  People want ApplePay to work everywhere but because of privacy merchants are not interested.

     

    I'm willing to sacrifice some privacy for more convience. 


    Privacy is the primary differentiating aspect for Apple Pay. Now with chip cards, the security is almost the same. No way Apple is going to give up the users' privacy. That would make them no better than Google.

  • Reply 5 of 24
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     

    Privacy is the primary differentiating aspect for Apple Pay. Now with chip cards, the security is almost the same. No way Apple is going to give up the users' privacy. That would make them no better than Google.




    google probably knows the size of down their of all android users. In Google world there is no privacy.

  • Reply 6 of 24
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     

    Privacy is the primary differentiating aspect for Apple Pay. Now with chip cards, the security is almost the same. No way Apple is going to give up the users' privacy. That would make them no better than Google.


    But as Rob55 pointed out, by incorporating store and loyalty cards, the consumer can now choose to share the data with the merchant. They give the info to the store by using those cards. Apple is not giving up anything and the consumer makes the choice. I think it's win-win.

     

    I still believe the major obstacles to broader acceptance is hardware in the stores and training of personnel. For example, Rite Aid still asks for a PIN# when I use my debit card via Apple Pay.

  • Reply 7 of 24
    Assuming a store branded card such as a Kohl's, Target RED, Macy's card, etc. is less expensive for the respective stores than accepting Visa/MC, one would think there will be a big push by large stores. I'm not saying stores will stop accepting Vixa/MC, they won't have much choice, but it will make the ask of consumers to sign up for a store card a much easier sell.

    With a digital Wallet (like Apple Wallet and Google Pay), a consumer can carry 10-20 store cards in their phone. Very few people would do this with a physical cards. The remaining inconvenience is paying off all the separate store card bills on a monthly basis. Maybe not a big deal with online bill pay and the fact that most people do not shop at ten different department stores every month.
  • Reply 8 of 24

    Nice. It's bizarre that any large chain store would not want to immediately take advantage of the security improvements available to them and their customers with the iPhone.

  • Reply 9 of 24
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

     

    Why are merchants so against Apple Pay?

     

    What if Apple meet them in the middle and offered to share customer data?  Would that help?  I can't imagine merchants turning down Apple if they got customer data back from Apple in return.

     

    I know Cook's stance is to protect privacy.  But at what cost?  People want ApplePay to work everywhere but because of privacy merchants are not interested.

     

    I'm willing to sacrifice some privacy for more convience. 




    Some are against it of course, because they either want some of that small % that apple gets from the banks, 

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mike1 View Post

     

    ...

     

    I still believe the major obstacles to broader acceptance is hardware in the stores and training of personnel. For example, Rite Aid still asks for a PIN# when I use my debit card via Apple Pay.


    I have ot enter my pin with almost every Apple Pay NFC transaction... even Staples...

    i cant remember that last time i used Apple Pay and did NOT have to enter my 4 digit pin ( credit or debit - i 99% of time use one of two debit cards)

  • Reply 10 of 24
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

     

    Why are merchants so against Apple Pay?

     

    What if Apple meet them in the middle and offered to share customer data?  Would that help?  I can't imagine merchants turning down Apple if they got customer data back from Apple in return.

     

    I know Cook's stance is to protect privacy.  But at what cost?  People want ApplePay to work everywhere but because of privacy merchants are not interested.

     

    I'm willing to sacrifice some privacy for more convience. 


    What a ridiculous idea. Totally against Apple's policy. The merchants will come.

  • Reply 11 of 24
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post

     

    Nice. It's bizarre that any large chain store would not want to immediately take advantage of the security improvements available to them and their customers with the iPhone.




    I agree.

     

    The other thing is, I have one less card to carry around. My wallet is actually getting thinner with Apple Pay. And with a store credit card I can more confidently leave the physical card at home.

     

    I just added my Kohl's card to my iPhone. On the same card scan the app switched to the Watch app and added the card to my Apple Watch. Pretty slick.

  • Reply 12 of 24
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mike1 View Post

     

    But as Rob55 pointed out, by incorporating store and loyalty cards, the consumer can now choose to share the data with the merchant. They give the info to the store by using those cards. Apple is not giving up anything and the consumer makes the choice. I think it's win-win. 


    Sure that is a nice idea but technically, rewards cards are entirely disassociated from Apple Pay. They just happen to also be in Apple Wallet.  The consumer is sharing their private information with the merchant, not Apple, so it is completely unlike what @sog35 was suggesting, that Apple share private information in order to spur wider adoption of Apple Pay. I feel it would have the exact opposite effect. People would stop using Apple Pay if their privacy was no longer protected.

  • Reply 13 of 24
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Right_said_fred View Post

     



    Some are against it of course, because they either want some of that small % that apple gets from the banks, 

    I have ot enter my pin with almost every Apple Pay NFC transaction... even Staples...

    i cant remember that last time i used Apple Pay and did NOT have to enter my 4 digit pin ( credit or debit - i 99% of time use one of two debit cards)




    So what? They're just being careful in this initial phase. It's still far more secure, as a PIN means nothing by itself.

  • Reply 14 of 24
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

     

     

    Been waiting for over a year and still very few merchants




    Patience is a virtue. Learn it.

     

    The wheels of finance turn characteristically slowly.

  • Reply 15 of 24
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    Just added our Kohl’s card to the Wallet app without issue. Then I was asked if I wanted it on my watch too, said yes, done. No luck with the Kohl’s rewards card though.

  • Reply 16 of 24

    Did Kohl's accept ApplePay before this?

  • Reply 17 of 24
    chadbagchadbag Posts: 1,999member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mike1 View Post

     

    But as Rob55 pointed out, by incorporating store and loyalty cards, the consumer can now choose to share the data with the merchant. They give the info to the store by using those cards. Apple is not giving up anything and the consumer makes the choice. I think it's win-win.

     

    I still believe the major obstacles to broader acceptance is hardware in the stores and training of personnel. For example, Rite Aid still asks for a PIN# when I use my debit card via Apple Pay.




    That is because they want to run it as a debit, not a credit.  An Apple Pay transaction with a debit card is run as credit (same as if they swiped and you signed) which costs them fees on the credit scale, not the usually much cheaper debit scale.  So they want the PIN to run it as a real debit transaction which saves them fees.

  • Reply 18 of 24
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DanielSW View Post

     



    So what? They're just being careful in this initial phase. It's still far more secure, as a PIN means nothing by itself.




    So nothing, i was replying to the poster that mentioned he had to enter PIN, as though it was not normal, but was for that particular store....

    i found i always need it, at first there seemed to be quite a difference in how you used the phone at any particular store...

  • Reply 19 of 24
    runbuhrunbuh Posts: 315member
    Did Kohl's accept ApplePay before this?
    Where does it say in this article (or in the original Kohl's tweet) that Kohl's actually accepts Apple Pay in their stores?
  • Reply 20 of 24
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DanielSW View Post

     



    Patience is a virtue. Learn it.


     

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

     

     

    Tim Cook said 2015 would be the year of ApplePay.  Not seeing it.




    I'm wasting keystrokes on you, pal. Open your eyes, dammit!

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