It just got easier to pay at Walmart, if you follow these simple steps

The useful part

Mobile-based contactless payment services are 15 years old, starting with Google Wallet in 2011 (which later became Google Pay), followed by Apple Pay in 2014. Many stores slowly rolled out support over years of foot-dragging, while large chains like Walmart tried to push their own payment solution. However, after nearly two decades of hemming and hawing, the retail giant is finally caving in.

How it works

• Built around the wildly successful iPhone and Apple Watch, Apple Pay quickly picked up steam.
• The key selling point, at least for Walmart, was that its payment service worked with a QR code system.
• Here's what you need to know before the next time you try to buy something at Walmart with Apple Pay or Google Pay.
• While Google was the first to bring contactless payments to mobile, the industry took notice when Apple introduced its own solution to the market.
• Today, it accounts for 50% of in-store transactions in the United States, while Google Pay only covers 17%.

What to take from it

Globally, that makes up a difference of $9.5 trillion spent through Apple's ecosystem versus $5.2 trillion on Google's platform. In the earlier days of contactless payments, the market was more like the Wild West with various companies jockeying for control. Walmart Pay ruined the party Walmart released Walmart Pay in 2015 as a direct in-store alternative to Apple and Google.

Details worth keeping

The rollout has already begun at select locations. Some stores even launched their own payment services to compete.