Walmart Subsidiary Asda Testing Apple Pay in U.K.

While its parent company Walmart remains one of the most notable Apple Pay holdouts in the United States, British supermarket chain Asda now appears to be testing the mobile payments service at select locations in the United Kingdom.

ASDA
The supermarket chain, which has 626 stores across the U.K., recently confirmed on Twitter that Apple Pay is something it is "currently trialling in a few of our stores," but it remains unclear if the testing will lead to a wider rollout in the future.

A few Asda customers have recently tweeted about the newly enabled Apple Pay support at superstore locations in Aberdeen, Scotland and Ferring, a small village located about 60 miles southwest from London, England.

As recently as August 12, a support representative tweeted that Asda does not currently accept Apple Pay, but that it does accept contactless payments in some of its stores. Apple Pay generally works where contactless payments are accepted, but some retailers have specific policies against accepting Apple Pay.

In 1999, Asda was purchased by Walmart, which recently completed a nationwide launch of its own QR code-based mobile payments solution Walmart Pay in the United States. Walmart was initially committed to the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) consortium and its now indefinitely postponed payments service CurrentC.

In related news, Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank, and digital banking service B introduced Apple Pay support for cardholders in the U.K. last week.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Tag: Walmart

Popular Stories

Apple iPhone 16e Feature

Apple Announces iPhone 16e With A18 Chip and Apple Intelligence, Pricing Starts at $599

Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:02 am PST by
Apple today introduced the iPhone 16e, its newest entry-level smartphone. The device succeeds the third-generation iPhone SE, which has now been discontinued. The iPhone 16e features a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, up from a 4.7-inch LCD on the iPhone SE. The display has a notch for Face ID, and this means that Apple no longer sells any iPhones with a Touch ID fingerprint button, marking the ...
iphone 17 pro asherdipps

iPhone 17 Pro Models Rumored to Feature Aluminum Frame Instead of Titanium Frame

Tuesday February 18, 2025 12:02 pm PST by
Over the years, Apple has switched from an aluminum frame to a stainless steel frame to a titanium frame for its highest-end iPhones. And now, it has been rumored that Apple will go back to using aluminum for three out of four iPhone 17 models. In an investor note with research firm GF Securities, obtained by MacRumors this week, Apple supply chain analyst Jeff Pu said the iPhone 17, iPhone...
apple launch feb 2025 alt

Here Are the New Apple Products We're Still Expecting This Spring

Thursday February 20, 2025 5:06 am PST by
Now that Apple has announced its new more affordable iPhone 16e, our thoughts turn to what else we are expecting from the company this spring. There are three product categories that we are definitely expecting to get upgraded before spring has ended. Keep reading to learn what they are. If we're lucky, Apple might make a surprise announcement about a completely new product category. M4...
Generic iOS 18

Here's When Apple Will Release iOS 18.4

Wednesday February 19, 2025 11:38 am PST by
Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple updated its iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia pages to give a narrower timeline on when the next updates are set to launch. All three pages now state that new Apple Intelligence features and languages will launch in early April, an update from the more broader April timeframe that Apple provided before. The next major point updates will be iOS ...
apple launch feb 2025

Tim Cook Teases an 'Apple Launch' Next Wednesday

Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag. The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle. Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
apple c1

Apple Unveils 'C1' as First Custom Cellular Modem

Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:08 am PST by
Apple today announced its first custom cellular modem with the name "C1," debuting in the all-new iPhone 16e. The new modem contributes to the iPhone 16e's power efficiency, giving it the longest battery life of any iPhone with a 6.1-inch display, such as the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16. Expanding the benefits of Apple silicon, C1 is the first modem designed by Apple and the most...
Apple Northbrook

Apple Store Permanently Closing at Struggling Mall in Chicago Area

Tuesday February 18, 2025 8:46 pm PST by
Apple is permanently closing its retail store at the Northbrook Court shopping mall in the Chicago area. The company confirmed the upcoming closure today in a statement, but it has yet to provide a closing date for the location. Apple Northbrook opened in 2005, and the store moved to a larger space in the mall in 2017. Apple confirmed that affected employees will continue to work for the...

Top Rated Comments

bbfc Avatar
111 months ago
What does ASDA stand for? Is this an acronym or is that a real word that means something to the british people? Because I am only aware of the American Sleep Disorder Association. And hopefully these stores don't put people to sleep :D
From Wikipedia...

In 1965, when the Asquith brothers approached Associated Dairies to run the butchery departments within their small store chain, a merger was proposed. So they joined together with Noel Stockdale, Arthur Stockdale's son, to form a new company, Asquith + Dairies = Asda (capitalised from 1985).
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
peterh988 Avatar
111 months ago
Supermarkets have been slow at implementing Contactless. Tesco has only just recently started accepting it. Sainsbury's don't support it yet. ASDA have a very small trial. It's only Waitrose and M&S that have been offering contactless for some time (and Apple Pay since it launched).
At first I thought it was about data grabbing on your shopping habits, but everyone has a loyalty card to do that these days, so you don't really need the payment method to do that.

You'd think stores would want to make it as easy as possible for people to spend as much as possible in the way they prefer.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jme Saunders Avatar
111 months ago
It's also important to know, unlike in the USA where launch partners are needed as the adoption of contactless isn't as common... ASDA will be supporting *all* contactless payments.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dtuck90 Avatar
111 months ago
The Tesco superstore where I work in Staffordshire had contactless terminals installed last night and I've used apple pay a few times today
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tonemonkey the bluesman Avatar
111 months ago
I've used apple pay in ASDA since the launch of the 6s... Trialling?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Max Portakabin Avatar
111 months ago
Several in the same area?
SE England
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)