In Apple’s quest to promote their purchasing service called Apple Pay, there’s yet another complication. I’m not talking about competition from Android Pay. I’m talking about stores themselves.
Many stores refuse Apple Pay. With all due respect to Apple CEO Tim Cook, I think he had it wrong when he declared 2015 the year of Apple Pay. Of the top 100 retailers polled by Reuters, fewer than 25 currently accept Apple Pay. Around two-thirds said they won’t accept Apple Pay this year, and only four said they plan to bring in Apple Pay next year. Why aren’t many stores jumping on Apple Pay’s bandwagon? Apparently, customers aren’t very interested. Others reasons include stores’ lack of data to process Apple Pay, the cost of running Apple Pay, and there’s a plan to participate in a mobile payment system to be launched by an alliance of retailers sometime this year. But from the minority of stores that do accept Apple Pay, they’re happy with the service. Customers seem to enjoy the speed, convenience and security Apple Pay offers. But these transactions are still few and far between. According to Wakefield Research, mobile payments accounted for four percent of all retail transactions, and that number shows little sign of going up.
But clearly, there is work to be done. Apple needs to do a better job selling this concept. Why isn’t this being blasted in commercials everywhere? I hope Apple execs don’t think they can sell Apple Pay simply because of the name Apple. Surely one of the most successful companies of all-time knows better than that. I think Apple should peak consumer interest. If the customers are interested enough, they’ll go their local stores in drove and demand they accept Apple Pay. If the demand is big enough, stores will have no choice but give in. They’d better do so before this store alliance comes out with their own mobile pay system. Is there hope for Apple Pay?