News

Walmart lets shoppers buy online, pay with cash

April 30, 2012

Walmart recently announced a new "Pay with Cash" offering in the U.S. for online orders at Walmart.com. The service lets un- and underbanked customers order merchandise online and pay for it in-store.

Using "Pay with Cash," customers purchase items at Walmart.com, pay for them in stores within a 48-hour period, and then have the items shipped to their home or local Walmart store.

In a news release about the program, Walmart said the program responded to a consumer desire to use cash for online purchases. In a recent survey, the company found that more than two thirds of those identified as "underbanked" were likely to use cash as a form of online payment if the option were available.

"Many of our customers shop paycheck to paycheck and are looking for more ways to purchase items online but don't have the means to a credit, debit or prepaid card," said Joel Anderson, president and CEO of Walmart.com. "Our new 'Pay with Cash' offering is designed just for them. It makes it easier for our customers to shop the way they want, where they have access to a broader product selection at Walmart.com coupled with the convenience of payment and shipping as they want."

How Pay with Cash works:

• The customer selects merchandise at Walmart.com from any Internet-connected device.
• At checkout, the customer selects the "cash" option and their shipping preference. The purchase is reserved in the system; the customer receives an order number on the order confirmation page as well as an email receipt with the order number.
• Within 48 hours, the customer takes the printed order form to a cash register at any Walmart or Neighborhood Market store and pays for the order.
• Merchandise is shipped to the customer's preferred address.

For more on this topic, visit our trends/statistics research center.