Apple Pay could soon be joined by cryptocurrency as a payment method in Walmart’s upcoming future.
Walmart is one of the largest retailers in the world and they have already dabbled in their own virtual currencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by filing seven trademarks in January 2022.
Additionally, Walmart has begun exploration into the metaverse by releasing a virtual-reality video demo in May–providing users with a virtual shopping experience. Last month, by way of the Roblox platform, they unveiled Walmart Universe and Walmart Land.
Roblox is one of the fastest-growing and largest platforms in the metaverse. Walmart understands this and knows customers will be spending plenty of time there. Acknowledging this, Walmart plans to make it an enjoyable place by creating new and innovative experiences, according to William White, Walmart’s Chief Marketing Officer.
Walmart Global Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chief Development Officer (CDO) Suresh Kumar told Yahoo Finance that crypto is next on Walmart’s never-ending horizon. He believes this move will be a major disruptor in the future of retail.
“Crypto will become an important part of how customers transact,” said Kumar. “I think that there are three major areas of disruption–crypto falls somewhere in the middle of it.”
Due to this, the goal is to make transactions as effortless as possible, seeing as how there will be so many different methods of payment. And Kumar believes this is where most of the disruption will stem from.
But what about in the metaverse? The world is changing in terms of how customers are buying and selling products. A portion of this whole spiel will be taking place in the virtual world and Kumar is aware of this.
“Part of that is going to happen in the metaverse,” Kumar explained. “When you specifically talk about crypto it’s going to be about discovery of products, whether it is physical or virtual inside, either the metaverse or upfront and then how people transact.”
In short, customers are now having to choose between in-store shopping, online or in the metaverse. Choosing a method of payment is followed. Disruptor this could be.
