Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., announced Wednesday that it is testing a mobile payment system, titled "Walmart Pay," that will allow shoppers to use their smartphone to pay for products inside their shopping cart at checkout.
"Walmart Pay," which will begin testing on Thursday in the Bentonville, Ark., area where the retailer is based, is the first first-party mobile system to be released by a retailer that works with an iPhone or Android device, according to the Los Angeles Times.
If everything goes well, Wal-Mart plans to launch the payment system in all of its 4,500-plus stores nationwide by the end of the first half of 2016.
The system works by setting up the pre-existing app, available on both Android and iOS, with your chosen payment card. From there, once at the register for checkout, you need to activate your phone camera and scan the code displayed, which will then send an e-receipt to the app, according to Android Central.
The introduction of this payment system is part of Wal-Mart's overall mobile strategy aimed at making shopping easier and faster. Moving into this field, even as Apple's "Apple Pay" system is expanding to other merchants like Best Buy and KFC, as well as the introduction of "Android Pay" and "Samsung Pay" in recent months, illustrates that Wal-Mart believes it's best to build its own unique payment system to server its customers.
"We are creating a seamless shopping experience that includes payment," Neil Ashe, president and CEO of Wal-Mart's global eCommerce, told reporters. "It's fast. It's simple, and it's a secure way for customers to use their smartphone."
In addition to "Walmart Pay," the wholesale retailer is also in talks with mobile wallet developers to create a mobile wallet that can be integrated with "Walmart Pay" in the future, according to FOX Business.
"We are listening to the needs of the customer," said Wal-Mart's Senior VP of Services Daniel Eckert. "We are looking at innovating the checkout experience and using payment to do that."
