We already knew of the idea that the CVS Pharmacy would be launching its own mobile payment service. We heard it would utilize mainly Apple Pay but this week, the company finally unveiled CVS Pay and no, it won’t be related to anything from Apple or Google. Instead of integration with any existing payment service available, CVS is introducing its own.
CVS Pay is yet another mobile payments platform that will be exclusive to payments for CVS Pharmacy transactions much like Walmart Pay is to Walmart. If you may remember not so long ago, CVS once dropped the idea of NFC mobile payments not because they cause problems but because they were part of the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX). Back then, the latter was once believed to be developing its own mobile payment system called CurrentC.
CurrentC has been on beta for quite a while now but it has seen a number of issues. Meanwhile, the new CVS Pay won’t exactly launch as a standalone app but will be part of the already available CVS Pharmacy app. This payment feature adds up to the prescription pickup tools and loyalty program integrated into the app.
CVS Pay works similarly with the same services from Android, Walmart, and Apple. Customers need to add their credit or debits cards to the system. A barcode will be shown and then be used to pay for the items and finally finish transaction after some verification measure which can be a signature or a passcode. The CVS Pharmacy app won’t be changed at all. It will only be updated with the addition of the CVS Pay feature.
CVS Pay on the CVS Pharmacy app is now available in only a few markets like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. More states are expected to receive the feature in the coming months or before 2016 ends. What’s good about CVS Pay is that it works on both Android and iOS versions of the CVS Pharmacy app. Credit and debit cards supported include Visa, Discover, MasterCard, and American Express.
VIA: SlashGear
