Kroger stores start accepting Apple Pay for grocery purchases

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AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone edited April 2023
Grocery chain Kroger is increasing its acceptance of Apple Pay, with some of its stores able to take payments from Apple's platform, while owned-chain Fred Meyer is also rolling out support.

Apple Pay
Apple Pay


Kroger is a major holdout from taking Apple Pay payments across its chain of stores. It now seems that the retailer is slowly changing its mind about Apple's mobile payments, and is allowing more stores to take payments from iPhones.

So far, Kroger's main stores have largely avoided taking Apple Pay payments, but that's changing. In tweets and other social postings, customers are reporting that some stores are taking Apple Pay payments without issue.

The tweets, originally reported by Appleosophy, indicate some Kroger-branded stores are taking Apple Pay. However, Kroger itself has yet to officially announce Apple Pay support across the chain.

Though the main Kroger stores are only just testing the waters, other areas of the empire already take Apple Pay. Some King Soopers, Ralph's, and Quality Food Centers already take Apple Pay payments.

Joining the list is the Northwest-based Fred Meyer, a Kroger-owned chain that has started to take Apple Pay payments. In a statement to MacRumors, Fred Meyer confirmed it is "now accepting Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Fitbit Pay, mobile banking apps and contactless chip cards."

As part of Kroger's resistance to Apple Pay and other third-party platforms, Kroger Pay was introduced in 2019. Unlike Apple Pay, Kroger Pay relied on QR codes displayed on a customer's device, which were scanned by a cashier at checkout.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    mikalmikal Posts: 3member
    Fred *Meyer*. They’re not related to John Mayer
    williamlondon
     0Likes 0Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 2 of 20
    Xedxed Posts: 3,192member
    FINALLY! 🙏

    Lowes, Home Depot, and Walmart are the last major ones I can think of.
    StrangeDayswatto_cobraMplsPdarkvader
     4Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 3 of 20
    hmlongcohmlongco Posts: 638member
    Xed said:
    FINALLY! 🙏

    Lowes, Home Depot, and Walmart are the last major ones I can think of.
    Walmart won't do it out of spite since their own payment system imploded. I am getting sick and tired of Lowes not enabling any contactless payment systems, however.
    williamlondonStrangeDayswatto_cobradarkvader
     4Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 4 of 20
    neoncatneoncat Posts: 190member
    Though the main Kroger stores are only just testing the waters, other areas of the empire already take Apple Pay. Some King Soopers, Ralph's, and Quality Food Centers already take Apple Pay payments.
    Indeed. King Soopers (Colorado and Wyoming) started taking ApplePay in all stores, at the same time, at the beginning of November last year. They upgraded their POS payment units earlier in 2022, which made me wonder if NFC payments were coming. Sure enough, one day it wasn't possible, the next day it was. Pay with my Watch every trip, now. Still freaks people out, which is a delight. "Holy cow how did you do that."
    edited April 2023
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 5 of 20
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,944member
    Sometime back Kroger bought Harris Teeter grocery chain. Will I be able to use Apple Pay when I shop at Harris Teeter ? Hope so.
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 6 of 20
    appleinsideruserappleinsideruser Posts: 746member
    Interesting that the US doesn’t even feature on this random list of countries and NFC payments
    https://www.nfcw.com/2020/03/26/366173/table-contactless-payment-transaction-limit-increases-around-the-world/

    What is it about USA that means they haven’t adopted the move away from cash like the rest of the world?
    StrangeDayswatto_cobraMplsP
     3Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 7 of 20
    Xedxed Posts: 3,192member
    appleinsideruser said:
    Interesting that the US doesn’t even feature on this random list of countries and NFC payments
    https://www.nfcw.com/2020/03/26/366173/table-contactless-payment-transaction-limit-increases-around-the-world/

    What is it about USA that means they haven’t adopted the move away from cash like the rest of the world?
    Huh? I have no idea what NFCW is so perhaps they simply don't have a US audience that would make the list more inclusive. They certainly aren't listing all nations with NFC-based payments and the US has had NFC-based payments for many years before that article from 2020.

    Additionally, a single store not having NFC-based payments doesn't mean that people are using cash. Credit cards are very likely dominating the few major holdouts like Lowes and Home Depot, which are hardware stores. Even if a store offers NFC-based payments they may not support NFC-based payments from Apple Pay, which I've only experienced many years ago when CVS was purposely forbidding smart device-based payments (Apple Pay and the then named Android Pay) in favor of their failed investment, CurrentC.
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 8 of 20
    StrangeDaysstrangedays Posts: 13,181member
    That all major retailers haven’t implemented NFC POS by now is rather pathetic. 
    watto_cobrawilliamlondon
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 9 of 20
    payecopayeco Posts: 581member
    hmlongco said:
    Xed said:
    FINALLY! 🙏

    Lowes, Home Depot, and Walmart are the last major ones I can think of.
    Walmart won't do it out of spite since their own payment system imploded. I am getting sick and tired of Lowes not enabling any contactless payment systems, however.
    At some point their hand may be forced. Visa and Mastercard mandate contactless card acceptance to be able to accept their cards in Europe and Asia. If they do that here Walmart and the rest of the hold outs won’t have a choice.
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 10 of 20
    payecopayeco Posts: 581member
    appleinsideruser said:
    Interesting that the US doesn’t even feature on this random list of countries and NFC payments
    https://www.nfcw.com/2020/03/26/366173/table-contactless-payment-transaction-limit-increases-around-the-world/

    What is it about USA that means they haven’t adopted the move away from cash like the rest of the world?
    Because the US has no limit on contactless payment amounts. If there is no limit would it be would be featured in that list of countries with limits?
    appleinsideruserwatto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 11 of 20
    appleinsideruserappleinsideruser Posts: 746member
    payeco said:
    Interesting that the US doesn’t even feature on this random list of countries and NFC payments
    https://www.nfcw.com/2020/03/26/366173/table-contactless-payment-transaction-limit-increases-around-the-world/

    What is it about USA that means they haven’t adopted the move away from cash like the rest of the world?
    Because the US has no limit on contactless payment amounts. If there is no limit would it be would be featured in that list of countries with limits?
    Wow. No contactless (rather than no ApplePay) limit? EDIT: After a little Googling, I see that:
    Neither the US nor Canada have set contactless limits, leaving them instead to the discretion of card schemes and financial institutions.
    So actually, that makes me even more curious as to why it isn't more widespread.
    edited April 2023
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 12 of 20
    beowulfschmidtbeowulfschmidt Posts: 2,413member
    payeco said:
    hmlongco said:
    Xed said:
    FINALLY! 🙏

    Lowes, Home Depot, and Walmart are the last major ones I can think of.
    Walmart won't do it out of spite since their own payment system imploded. I am getting sick and tired of Lowes not enabling any contactless payment systems, however.
    At some point their hand may be forced. Visa and Mastercard mandate contactless card acceptance to be able to accept their cards in Europe and Asia. If they do that here Walmart and the rest of the hold outs won’t have a choice.

    I'd be surprised if Walmart, king of "you'll do it our way or you won't do it", really gives even the smallest fvck what Visa or MasterCard says.  Besides, they already have their own proprietary contactless payment system in their stores.  Is it possible?  Sure.  Probably not in my lifetime though.
    williamlondon
     0Likes 0Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 13 of 20
    Appleishappleish Posts: 767member
    Wow! I haven't encountered a grocery store chain that doesn't take Apple Pay in years.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 14 of 20
    MplsPmplsp Posts: 4,120member
    Xed said:
    FINALLY! 🙏

    Lowes, Home Depot, and Walmart are the last major ones I can think of.
    + Target
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 15 of 20
    MplsPmplsp Posts: 4,120member
    appleinsideruser said:
    Interesting that the US doesn’t even feature on this random list of countries and NFC payments
    https://www.nfcw.com/2020/03/26/366173/table-contactless-payment-transaction-limit-increases-around-the-world/

    What is it about USA that means they haven’t adopted the move away from cash like the rest of the world?
    indeed - I was in London recently and didn't use a single bill the entire time. Everything transaction was done via Apple Pay, including bus and subway fares.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 16 of 20
    MplsPmplsp Posts: 4,120member
    beowulfschmidt said:
    payeco said:
    hmlongco said:
    Xed said:
    FINALLY! 🙏

    Lowes, Home Depot, and Walmart are the last major ones I can think of.
    Walmart won't do it out of spite since their own payment system imploded. I am getting sick and tired of Lowes not enabling any contactless payment systems, however.
    At some point their hand may be forced. Visa and Mastercard mandate contactless card acceptance to be able to accept their cards in Europe and Asia. If they do that here Walmart and the rest of the hold outs won’t have a choice.

    I'd be surprised if Walmart, king of "you'll do it our way or you won't do it", really gives even the smallest fvck what Visa or MasterCard says.  Besides, they already have their own proprietary contactless payment system in their stores.  Is it possible?  Sure.  Probably not in my lifetime though.
    Well, since half of Walmart's clientele doesn't have a credit card...
    beowulfschmidt
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 17 of 20
    appleinsideruserappleinsideruser Posts: 746member
    MplsP said:
    appleinsideruser said:
    Interesting that the US doesn’t even feature on this random list of countries and NFC payments
    https://www.nfcw.com/2020/03/26/366173/table-contactless-payment-transaction-limit-increases-around-the-world/

    What is it about USA that means they haven’t adopted the move away from cash like the rest of the world?
    indeed - I was in London recently and didn't use a single bill the entire time. Everything transaction was done via Apple Pay, including bus and subway fares.
    I live in the UK. I haven’t withdraw cash since before the pandemic. In fact a bank recently offered to not renew my cash card. I’ve fully embraced cashless, but I’m keeping that option available.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 18 of 20
    hmlongcohmlongco Posts: 638member
    MplsP said:
    Xed said:
    FINALLY! 🙏

    Lowes, Home Depot, and Walmart are the last major ones I can think of.
    + Target
    Nope. Target (or at least the ones I go to) all take Apple Pay. That said, I still mostly use the Target app to get an extra 5% off.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 19 of 20
    darkvaderdarkvader Posts: 1,146member
    Not working yet where I am.  I tried using my watch at self checkout a few days ago, didn't work.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
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