Lowe’s has surely crossed your mind when remodeling, repairing, or buying materials for your home. With 2,200 stores in the United States, it’s intriguing why they still don’t handle Apple Pay at Lowe’s.
Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse is a chain distributor of equipment and objects intended for home improvement and construction, currently an important matter for Americans.
Later, Lowe’s Food was created, which, thanks to its commercial success, became a supermarket and grocery chain business.
Lowe’s lacks Apple Pay
Currently, neither the home equipment distributor nor the grocery chain accepts Apple Pay Cash as a payment method for its stores and online sales.
Being such prominent businesses, it seems curious why they don’t have Apple Pay at Lowe’s as a payment method, but they have different reasons for not considering this tool yet.
Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse
In the case of Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse, the main reason for not working with Apple Pay Cash is that they do not have Nier Field Communication (NFC) payment technology.
NFC is a wireless technology that sends data from cell phones, smartwatches, laptops, or tablets to a nearby device.
Thanks to NFC, wireless payment methods such as Mobile Payment, Google Pay, and Apple Pay work. By not having NFC Payments installed, the business will not be able to support Apple Pay.
While it is true that the NFC payment system is relatively new, its development has had a very favorable response from both Apple users and businesses that have incorporated this payment method in their establishments or purchases in online stores.
Despite the growing popularity of this payment method, Lowe’s has no plans to invest in this technology in the short run.
Lowe’s Food
In the case of Lowe’s Food, the reason differs a bit. Despite being active in the App Store, the Lowe’s Food app does not have this payment method simply because it has its own.
Lowe’s Food’s page explains that their NFC Payment of choice is the “Scan*Pay*Go” app that can be downloaded for iOS users in the Apple Store and Android users in the Google Play Store.
Scan*Pay*Go is an application that helps the user save time and effort at the cash register since it adds the items to be purchased, counts them, and displays the final amount.
At the cash register, the cashier does not have to run the items through the system again to know the amount to be paid; simply by showing the cell phone through the point of sale reader, it will directly send to the Lowe’s Food system all the purchase made and will make the transfer effective.
Because of this agreement with Scan*Pay*Go, the Apple App is not considered at Lowe’s.
Why doesn’t Lowe’s invest in Apple Pay?
We discussed the lack of technology needed to use Apple Pay, but why doesn’t Lowe’s invest in this platform? There are several reasons why Lowe’s is not considering investing at this time.
Lowe’s credit card
Lowe’s Food offers a Lowe’s Food-only credit card, which can be purchased and reloaded. Customers who have purchased the credit card can use payment coupons and discounts at physical and online stores.
This card also serves as a gift card that can be redeemed at online stores and reward the customer with a point system earned from online purchases, which keeps the money circulating in the company. A percentage is charged directly to the company to use the advantages of this card.
Fees
As we know, Apple Pay Cash charges no extra fees, as do other payment methods. The store must place an additional cost on the tab when paying with debit or credit cards or by PayPal.
Apple Pay Cash can be viewed as a loss for the company due to the lack of these fees.
Payment methods at Lowe’s
Payment methods accepted by Lowe’s stores range from the Zero Card, which is Lowe’s card that saves 5% off the final amount due. They also accept PayPal, credit cards (Master, Visa, and Amex), Scan*Pay*Go, and cash.
You can pay with the Zero Card and credit cards when shopping online at Lowe’s Food.
Benefits of Investing in Apple Pay at Lowe’s
Although the resolution to integrate Apple Pay at Lowe’s Food may seem a long way off, there are benefits to this system that should be considered in the future.
Security
Since the Apple Pay Cash system is directly linked to an iCloud, it verifies that the money belongs to the person paying, which helps to reduce fraudulent transactions.
In addition, it provides convenience to the consumers since they do not have to carry any cards or cash, which helps reduce the risk of theft or robbery of their payment plastic.
Reduce possible contagious of COVID-19
Because the customer does not have to hand over or receive anything, it reduces physical contact and, therefore, the risk of contamination.
With the Apple Pay payment method, no contact is necessary because the customer is responsible for making his or her payment quickly and easily.
Customer experience is everything
Such a simple payment method for in-store and virtual shopping may persuade customers to go to another store or supermarket where this payment method is also accepted.