Back in late 2015, rumors suggested that Target was working on its own mobile payment service. Now it sounds like that service is almost ready for launch.
Target has confirmed that it’s prepping its own mobile payment service. Michael McNamara, Target’s Chief Information and Digital Officer, told Recode that Target plans to add mobile payment support into one or more of its own apps. This mobile payment functionality will launch later in 2017.
Target's mobile payment service will initially be offered only to customers with a REDcard, which are debit and credit cards offered by Target that give you a 5 percent discount on purchases. Neither McNamara nor Target have provided any other details, so it’s unclear exactly when this service will launch.
Target won’t be the first retailer to launch its own mobile payment service. In mid-2016, Walmart finished its nationwide rollout of Walmart Pay, a payment service that’s baked into its Walmart apps for Android and iPhone. It’s kind of disappointing that Target is opting to launch its own mobile payment offering instead of adopting Android Pay and Apple Pay, but at least with the launch of Target’s service, there will be a mobile payments service available at Target stores.
