An updated app of Walmart is in the market which according to the company will allow the Pharmacy or Money Services desk customers to skip having to wait in line. Customers will be able to order prescription refills or fill out required paperwork from their phone after entering their personal information in the app. On arriving at the store, they will not have to wait in the regular line; rather they will get in an “Express Lane” and move to the front without any hindrance.
Some other companies using this kind of app to facilitate faster transactions are the Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and Chipotle. The customers can place their orders and pay ahead of their arrival at the store. The CVS has also introduced a similar app last summer, through which the customers can pay for their products along with getting their prescriptions refilled and earning loyalty rewards.
Though the concept is similar, using mobile phone for real world transactions, yet the mobile app is not used to order food and grocery items or general shopping. The customers will open the app and click on “prescription ready for pickup.” The next step is to enter their PIN or use touch ID to activate the camera. Inside the store, at the register they will scan the code displayed there to connect the app to the current transaction. Then the prescription will be handed over to the customer by the Walmart associate. Payments are handled by the Walmart Pay and the eReceipt is sent to the app.
Walmart Pay which relies on scan able QR codes is Walmart’s own mobile payments service. It has already made valuable gains in retail stores as means of connecting phones to the register. This mobile payment service was initially announced in December 2015 and spread out nationwide to all U.S. stores in July 2016.
Additional features not present in the app previously are; tracking order, view pricing, or manage pickup details.
Similar to the Walmart Pharmacy, the Money Services through which millions of customers transfer money each month will use the same technology. Customers will be able to complete paper work in the app then click “money ready to send” to start the transfer process. A PIN code or Touch ID will again be used to activate the camera and scan the code at the register. Payment will then be made. The receipt and the reference number are sent to the app which can be sent through email to the recipient.
Money Services are expected to be available for about 1,200 stores where Express Lanes for the app users will be present. The new features of Walmart pharmacy and Money Services will start to roll out this March and will expand to nearly all Walmart’s 4,700 stores by this fall. The app reaching over 26 million customers per month will introduce the new features on both iOS and Android.
