Merchant Announces Support for Google Wallet, Including Coupons
U.S. office supply chain OfficeMax has announced that more than 100 of its nearly 1,000 stores are equipped to accept not only payment but also coupons and the chain's loyalty program from the Google Wallet.
It’s one of only four merchant chains so far that can accept offers, according to Google. The others are American Eagle Outfitters, Toys R Us and Jamba Juice. All accept the payment and offers only in select locations, which would be in one or more of five cities, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C.
They are among the nearly 20 merchant chains that Google announced it was partnering with when it unveiled its wallet in May. But Google says eight of the merchants still do not even accept payment from the MasterCard PayPass applications in the wallet. They include Subway sandwich shops, Walgreens retail pharmacies and Macy’s department stores, according to the Google Wallet site.
The 100-plus OfficeMax locations that accept payment, coupons and loyalty through the Google Wallet are in all five cities. All told, the office supply chain has about 990 stores.
The point-of-sale terminals enable customers to pay, redeem coupons and use OfficeMax's MaxPerks Rewards loyalty program with a single tap of their mobile phones, said the company.
“OfficeMax is interested in using the very latest technology to deliver a faster, easier and personalized in-store shopping experience for our customers, and mobile payments with Google Wallet lets us do just that," Ryan Vero, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer at OfficeMax, said in a statement.
With the Google Wallet app that Nexus S 4G users can download, users are able to tap their phones to pay with a Citigroup-issued MasterCard PayPass payment application or a Google Prepaid Card application.
The prepaid application also supports PayPass. Consumers can use either application to tap to pay wherever MasterCard PayPass is accepted, which in the United States is at more than 125,000 locations.
Google is also working with mobile carrier Sprint and processor First Data, which is also serving as trusted service manager with its technology partner SK C&C.