Rite Aid originally banned the use of Apple Pay at its registers when Apple’s contactless payment system launched late last year, but it appears that the store chain is ready to change its stance later this week and let customers pay with Apple Pay.
Nearly 4,600 Rite Aid stores nationwide will being accepting Apple Pay and Google Wallet, starting August 15th the company announced today. Ride Aid was a partner of MCX, which was developing CurrentC as a rival to Apple Pay. MXC made partners agree to an exclusivity period where they would not accept Apple Pay, but now that the exclusively period is ending, more retailers are jumping on board Apple Pay.
Last year, Rite Aid told customers it was disabling Apple Pay because it was working with a large group of retailers to create a mobile wallet that would accept money straight from your bank account. Now it appears some retailers are starting to give up on the dream of using CurrentC to bypass credit card companies. Ride Aid CEO Ken Martindale said the company made the decision to accept NFC payments to give customers a better checkout process.
“By accepting mobile payments, we’re able to offer Rite Aid customers an easy and convenient checkout process, which we know is important to them,” said Martindale. “Investing in mobile technologies is just one piece of Rite Aid’s evolving digital strategy and we will continue to explore, test and implement innovative technologies that will help us to better serve our valued customers.”
