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Does Aldi Accept Apple Pay?

November 17, 2017 By James Hendrickson Leave a Comment

In the past, Aldi has been one of the last grocers to jump on board with the latest forms of payment. Aldi didn’t accept credit cards for quite some time but now they do. This has many people wondering about other payment methods and, more specifically, does Aldi accept apple pay?

Aldi Apple Pay

Other grocery stores have been quick to the chase when it comes to accepting contactless payments. Currently, other grocers that accept Apple Pay include Trader Joe’s. Food Lion, Giant Food, Whole Foods, Save Mart, Wegmans, Winn-Dixie, Shop n’ Save, BI-LO, and United Supermarkets.

Aldi announced it would be accepting Apple Pay in all 1,700 of its United States-based stores starting in September 2017. The announcement stated that shoppers would be able to pay for their items by tapping their phones to the payment terminal. This includes Samsung Pay, Google Wallet, Android Pay, and other contactless-enabled payment methods on your cell.

This has been part of Aldi’s push to grow its customer base. In 2017, the company also began offering more organic items and more fresh meats. Adding Apple Pay and other contactless payments to the available ways to pay, made Aldi comparable to other grocers in yet another way.

After announcing that the stores would accept Apple Pay, Aldi CEO Jason Hart had this to say: “We’re continually innovating to provide our customers a faster, more efficient shopping experience that saves them time and money. Shoppers love ALDI because we build and run stores they can shop quickly. Contactless payment makes shopping at ALDI that much faster and more convenient.”

How to Use Apple Pay at Aldi

Not familiar with how to use Apple Pay? Don’t worry! It’s safe, fast, and easy to use. If you want to use Apple Pay the next time you head to Aldi, check out this short how-to video:

Other Forms of Payment at Aldi

Because Apple and Android Pay are among the quickest ways to pay at the register, the budget-friendly grocer made this change to stay in line with its desire to remain a speedy, one-stop shop for all your grocery and household needs. So, since Aldi accepts Apple Pay, what other forms of payment are accepted?

According to the company’s website, in addition to Apple and Android Pay, Aldi accepts cash, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, most debit cards, and Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT). You can also use Aldi gift cards at any Aldi location. Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program benefits are not currently accepted at Aldi.

Coupons at Aldi

Another thing to keep in mind about paying at Aldi is that the store does not accept any manufacturer’s coupons. This is because, for the most part, you are buying Aldi-brand items that aren’t available elsewhere. However, even when they are selling a name brand product, you will not be able to use a coupon.

Every once in a while, Aldi will release a special when a new store opens. During this time, you may find an Aldi coupon that can be used for the grand opening. To find Aldi coupons, you’ll need to keep an eye out for them in your local newspaper.

Despite not being able to use coupons, Aldi has been able to help people save up to 40% on their grocery bill. If you’d like to learn more about Aldi, check out these helpful articles:

Have you shopped at Aldi? Now that they’ve started to accept faster forms of payment, will you consider trying it?

Photo: Mike Mozart

Apple Pay vs QR Code Apps: Consumers Will Decide the Mobile Payment Winner

November 2, 2014 By Kendra Smith Leave a Comment

Apple Pay and QR code apps are in a war for your mobile wallet

The battle has been set and now we see who may be closer to winning the war. The combatants in this growing war are QR code-based apps and NFC-based apps for your mobile wallet options. ApplePay and Google Wallet are NFC-based, while other companies like Merchant Consumer Exchange (MCX) have created QR-based apps.

The battleground where this war is taking place is at retail outlets. MCX has over 50 retail partners, including Target and Best Buy, and the service raked in one million sign-ups in the first 72 hours after its launch. ApplePay is experiencing some heartache as many retailers either refuse to take on ApplePay or after attempting full implementation, have dropped the service.

So who is winning? It may be too early to tell, but the early blows have been directed at the NFC based systems of ApplePay and Google Wallet.

Why? Possibly because NFC systems like ApplePay are not completely compatible with the current systems already installed with retailers. This means high costs for accepting these specific systems as payment options.

It would appear most retailers are taking sides, but this may hurt them in the long run. Consumers don’t take well to being told that they can’t use things they want to use. Retailers should probably tread lightly.

Although, most retailers are in favor of some sort of system that skirts credit cards, mainly to decrease costs. In the challenging economy of today, most retailers operate with a margin of 2%, which is also the amount in fees most credit card companies charge retailers for processing. Consumers like credit cards because it’s an easy way to pay for goods – swipe, sign and done. So, clunky systems that require a phone may never completely replace the credit card.

Many analysts know that consumers direct where retailers go. With the iPhone being one of the most popular phones on the market today, many consumers could become disgruntled if retailers don’t accept ApplePay because it’s what is available to iPhone users.

Eventually, retailers may have to relent and shell out the cash to purchase the expensive systems that are compatible with NFC payment systems. Retailers will have to balance the practicality and the consumer demand. If they feel the mobile wallet is too cumbersome, they will always have a credit card. If they can’t use their current phone to pay, they may never use the system.

It is a toss up, and the while the initial skirmishes have begun, the war is still far from over.

Coming Soon: Sending Money by Voice through Your Glasses

May 5, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 1 Comment

Send money through Google Glass with Wallet

Making your financial payments by cellphone may be considered old school in the not too distant future. Imagine that you come home and your roommate tells you your split of the utilities for the month. Instead of taking out your phone or going to your computer to transfer the money into their account, you can simply say, “Make payment” while wearing Google Glass.

The rumor mill has it that anyone with a pair of Google Glass may soon be able to send money to their friends via Google Wallet in the near future. TechCrunch says that Google is in the process of internally testing the process by which Glass users can send money by simply giving the voice command “send money.” If the tests are successful, you may see those with Glass making money transaction via their eye wear in the not too distant future.

It’s currently possible for Gmail users to send money to others with a Gmail address, but it’s not the easiest process. It takes nine steps to complete the transfer of funds, which doesn’t encourage people to do so on a frequent basis. The possibility of making payments through Glass has the potential to greatly reduce the number of steps. In theory, it might only take a voice command plus a couple of swipes or taps.

If this becomes a quick and convenient way for people to transfer money, Google stands to make quite a bit of money. The company currently charges $0.30 per transaction (or 2.9%, whichever is higher) through Wallet for transactions made with credit or debit cards (using your Wallet balance of bank account is free for the sender). The more convenient that they can make transactions to encourage users to adopt Wallet as a primary payment method, the more money they can gain from the system.

Glass users seem to be a perfect target for the company as well. With a cost of $1500 to be an early adopter of a device that is created with $80 worth of hardware, the charges that can add up quickly using Wallet to pay friends probably isn’t much of an issue to the users. In fact, they’re probably more likely to use the service just to show their friends that they can.

So be warned, sending money to others might be headed in a strange direction. If this rumor becomes reality, you may soon be seeing people talking to their glasses as a way to make financial transactions to one another.