Walmart Enables Tap-to-Pay at US Stores; National Rollout by 2026

Walmart will add Tap to Pay contactless payments at select Walmart and Sam’s Club stores starting this month. The company plans to enable contactless acceptance at all U.S. stores by the end of 2026, with fuel pumps scheduled for mid-2027.

Customers will be able to tap contactless cards and use Apple Pay and Google Pay at checkout instead of entering a PIN or relying solely on the Walmart Pay app.

The rollout begins at a limited number of locations this month and will expand in phases to reach every U.S. store by the close of 2026. Acceptance at fuel stations will follow after additional terminal upgrades and certifications are completed by mid-2027.

Walmart backed the MCX consortium in the 2010s, a group of retailers that developed a QR code mobile wallet to route transactions outside traditional card networks. After MCX did not gain traction, Walmart launched Walmart Pay in 2015 to process payments within its own system.

Walmart operates a fintech unit, OnePay, which offers banking, credit and payments products. Over the past decade the company has tested several in-house payment and financial services offerings.

In a statement, Walmart wrote: “It all comes back to giving customers and members more choice and making everyday shopping a little easier.” The company did not provide details on the specific terminals or vendors it will use, nor a store-by-store schedule for the rollout.

Until now, customers at Walmart stores generally needed to use Walmart Pay or enter a PIN for card transactions rather than use NFC tap-to-pay. The planned acceptance will allow contactless cards and mobile wallets at checkout across Walmart’s U.S. footprint.