Target Quietly Developing Its Own Mobile Wallet
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Retailer said to be challenging Apple, Google, Samsung, and Walmart with its own mobile wallet.
Sources close to the matter have said that Target is in the early stages of developing its own mobile wallet to compete with those already offered by Apple, Google, Samsung, and Walmart, according to Time. Although there is no official launch date for the new platform, it could launch as early as 2016. The product would allow customers to pay for merchandise via a mobile app on their smartphones.
The Target wallet is far enough along to have partnerships with credit card issuers and advanced technology, possibly using QR codes and eschewing near-field communications, but hasn’t been tested in stores, according to Reuters.
The news of Target’s project comes close on the heels of the announcement of Walmart Pay, which allows customers to pay with their smartphones in Walmart stores.
What makes the Target move so interesting is that it, like Walmart, is also a member of the retailer-backed consortium MCX, which has been developing mobile wallet CurrentC. Merchant Customer Exchange is the only merchant-owned mobile commerce network built to streamline the customer shopping experience across all major retail verticals, according to their website. Target was one of the first members of the Merchant Customer Exchange when it was formed in 2011. Best Buy followed in 2012, and Target even tested CurrentC at some of its stores last year. CurrentC uses QR-code based payments – not NFC payments - that do not require the installation of new equipment.
Target spokesman Eddie Baeb told Reuters that the retailer is testing CurrentC in a few stores but it is also exploring additional mobile wallet solutions. He declined to comment on whether Target was developing its own mobile payment service. “Target is a participant of the MCX and we are testing its CurrentC mobile wallet with guests as part of a pilot in Columbus, Ohio," Baeb said.
CurrentC has been criticized as being clunky and slow in comparison to the NFC-based tap-and-pay solutions already offered by Apple, Google, and others, which may explain Target’s desire to join the NFC-based race.
Reuters reported that Target has been in discussions with credit card companies for its mobile wallet and is considering using scanning technology to link the wallet to point-of-sale transactions. That makes it sound like the payments process could actually be integrated within Cartwheel, though the wallet has not actually moved to the point of testing.
We believe in these ‘super wallets’ or non-closed wallets like Apple, Samsung, Visa, MasterCard, that you can use across all your apps,” says payments company BlueSnap CEO Ralph Dangelmaier. “Plus PayPal and the international guys. That’s not to say that people won’t use others.”