Let’s talk about Kroger Pay.

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Let’s talk about Kroger Pay.

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rwsandiego
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Re: Let’s talk about Kroger Pay.

Post by rwsandiego »

When I saw that I thought "proprietary payments are soooooooo 2016!" Target has just rolled out Apple and Android Pay chain-wide. What's up with Kroger?
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Re: Let’s talk about Kroger Pay.

Post by storewanderer »

I thought they were going to introduce Chase Pay. What happened to that?

Literal copy of CVS Pay (which got discontinued and a message in the App referred users to Apple Pay or Google Pay.

This is an example of Kroger's "technology" initiatives. They are lagging way behind competition introducing things that competition has already tried and failed with. Their "scan bag go" is another failure introduced after competition (Albertsons over 10 years ago and Wal Mart multiple times over the years) had already tried and shelved the ideas.

Kroger needs to just accept Contactless payments (and therefore the Apple Pay and Android Pay) and be done with it. Contactless payments are the global standard for the most efficient card payment possible. As the major US card issuers are rolling out Contactless cards, EVERY other grocer accepts or is rolling out Contactless payments,

Kroger and Wal Mart are real holdouts on this. Wal Mart is literally forcing people to use "Wal Mart Pay" if they want savings catcher now. It seems they can't attract users without force.

The other irony about this "Kroger Pay" and "Wal Mart Pay" is they are paying higher card not present rates to process these transactions. If they just accepted Contactless it would not be that way as it works just like a card present transaction; the extra fee for Apple Pay, Android Pay, etc. is paid by the card issuer (it is about 1.5 cents per $100) not by the merchant.

There is zero reason why any merchant is refusing to accept Contactless other than being completely out of touch, not valuing the customer's time at checkout, and being extremely arrogant.
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Re: Let’s talk about Kroger Pay.

Post by Super S »

Call me old-fashioned, but I absolutely refuse to have any links to any financial information tied to my cell phone. This includes credit cards etc.
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Re: Let’s talk about Kroger Pay.

Post by storewanderer »

I too had some concerns and would never enter a "debit card" into the cell phone in any case. Then again I only use "debit card" at one merchant: WinCo. But I figured for a credit card with zero fraud liability, was less risky. So a few years ago I added a card into the program and gave it a shot. Since using it, I have found the process seems very secure.

The Android Pay process involves putting your credit card on but then as far as the app goes once your bank authorizes it, the credit card on your phone is a "virtual credit card" so it is not the same card number as the physical card. Since the program requires screen lock and then will often make you enter a pin to turn on the NFC, it seems to be pretty secure. Basically to get the thing to work you have to have your phone unlocked and even then it will often want you to confirm the pin to activate the NFC (that PIN is within the Android Pay program and is different from screen unlock).

At merchants that use EMV Contactless the Android Pay transactions are actually "verified by PIN" like a pin and chip card in places other than the US, using the screen unlock/program PIN entry as "device verification." Compared to most US-issued physical EMV Credit Cards which are "no cardholder verification," that seems more secure.

I think Apple Pay involves a fingerprint on the phone to verify every transaction but have never used it.

One of the main features I like about it is when your physical card gets cancelled due to fraud, during that week or so while you are waiting for a new card, the Android Pay automatically refreshes with a new virtual card number the moment you get off the phone with the card issuer from "confirming the fraud" and "confirming where to mail the new card to." So you have uninterrupted use of the card in Android Pay despite the week or so wait for a new physical card if you get skimmed.

So for instance in my card the "card number" I entered into Android Pay a few years ago and have used since, has been replaced due to skimming at least twice since I entered it and I never did enter the "new" physical card number there.

With all that said I prefer a physical card you can "tap" to using Android Pay. Chip card from a user experience perspective is my least favorite, but swipe card from a fraud perspective is my least favorite.
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Re: Let’s talk about Kroger Pay.

Post by Alpha8472 »

Perhaps, Kroger Pay and Walmart Pay gather information on purchases which are sold for profit.

Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay are safer than using a physical card. The stores never get your card number.

Samsung Pay is superior to Apple Pay, Google Pay, and any other NFC payment system. Samsung Pay simulates a magnetic swipe and works where magnetic swipe cards are accepted. It works at Walmart. Samsung Pay also uses a virtual card number so stores never get your credit card number.

Kroger should not be wasting time and money on Kroger Pay. Walmart should also abandon Walmart Pay, or at least make it more of an option.

Skimming is a problem at gas stations that still take only magnetic swipe. However, I have been able to use Samsung Pay at gas stations. The gas station never gets my real credit card number. They only get a virtual credit card number that is one time use.
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Re: Let’s talk about Kroger Pay.

Post by klkla »

I think Kroger is going it alone on this one because they want to tie it together with their rewards program.
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Re: Let’s talk about Kroger Pay.

Post by storewanderer »

CVS Pay allowed loyalty card use plus a credit card payment in one scan by the cashier during the transaction. It scanned a QR code on the phone and that acted like a loyalty card. When it came time to pay, the cashier totaled and it popped up an alert on the screen asking if customer wants to proceed with CVS Pay. The cashier hit yes and it processed the card (no customer interaction with the pinpad was necessary). It then processed as a card not present transaction.

Walgreens is interesting with Android Pay. If you add your Walgreens Rewards Card to Android Pay, it actually functions as NFC Loyalty. So you hold your phone up to the NFC Reader and first it attaches the Balance Rewards Card. Then after it totals you hold it up to the NFC Reader a second time and it will process your payment, in less than a second, because Walgreens has the fastest NFC I've ever seen.

You can add any loyalty card to Android Pay and have it scanned by the physical scanner but this Walgreens one is most curious as it is NFC loyalty (not scanned) and I've never seen that before but it is pretty neat. It also almost completely eliminates the friction of the loyalty card since the cashier doesn't have to do anything and you don't have to touch the pinpad (who wants to touch the pinpad at the drugstore during flu season anyway)?
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