Walmart will finally accept tap to pay in stores by the end of 2026

Walmart and Sam’s Club will begin supporting tap to pay in their US stores, a long-awaited change for shoppers who want to use phones, smartwatches, or contactless cards at checkout. The rollout starts August 24 at select locations and is scheduled to reach all US stores and clubs by the end of the year. Fuel stations are expected to have the feature fully available by the middle of next year. Customers will also be able to add eligible Walmart, Sam’s Club, and OnePay cards to digital wallets for use with the new payment method.

The announcement comes after years of customer frustration, as Walmart has been a notable holdout among major US retailers on contactless payments. Apple Pay has been available since 2014, while Google Wallet predates it, with retailers like Subway, Macy’s, and Walgreens supporting contactless payments through that service as early as 2011. Contactless credit cards have been in use for even longer. This means Walmart is adopting the technology roughly a decade after it became mainstream in other parts of the retail sector.

Home Depot, another large US chain, only properly embraced tap to pay in 2024, but still beat Walmart to the punch. The delayed adoption at Walmart has been particularly noticeable given the company’s scale and its push into financial services, including the OnePay card offering. The new payment option will apply across both the Walmart and Sam’s Club brands, covering their combined store footprint.

For US consumers, the change simplifies the checkout process, eliminating the need to insert a chip card or swipe a magnetic stripe. It also aligns Walmart with standard practice in other markets, where contactless payments have been the norm for years. The company’s fuel stations are included in the plan, though the later completion date there suggests a separate technical rollout for pumps compared to in-store registers.

The move does not introduce any new payment network or technology; it simply adds an accepted method that has been widely available elsewhere. Walmart will still process payments through its existing infrastructure, but now with the option for near-field communication, or NFC, at terminals. The company’s own digital wallet and card products will integrate with the new tap to pay capability, allowing customers to use those instruments without a physical card.

No specific reasons were given for the long delay, and no further details about the implementation timeline beyond the stated dates were provided. The August 24 start applies only to some locations, with the full in-store rollout expected before the end of 2026. Given the source article’s publication date, the end-of-year completion refers to that same calendar year. The fuel station completion in mid-2027 follows the in-store timeline.

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