Is Kroger on the verge of launching Apply Pay in stores?

Kroger has resisted accepting Apple Pay in its stores for years, but the social media world is revealing the grocery giant may be nibbling at the payment option.

Several news outlets are reporting the buzz coming from customers seeing Apple Pay at their local Kroger. The company, headquartered in Cincinnati, has not officially made the announcement regarding Apple Pay acceptance.

Some stores under the Kroger umbrella are using Apple Pay, including King Soopers, Ralph’s and Quality Food Centers. Fred Meyer, which operates a number of Krogers in the northwest, has started taking the electronic payment.

Kroger tried to launch its own version of Apple Pay, called Kroger Pay, a few years ago. The method uses a QR code which are scanned at the checkout line. Customers, however, have not embraced the concept.

Technology has been at the forefront of the grocer’s recent strategy, but there have been some bumps along the way. Rolling out automated Ocado fulfillment centers across the U.S. hasn't exactly been an automatic process.

The power grocer announced an aggressive plan back in 2018, when it said there would be as many as 20 centers operational in three years. A partnership was forged with British online grocer and technology group Ocado to handle the rollout. Today, that number stands at eight, and it appears Kroger has spent the last five years trying to understand the process outside of cutting opening-day ribbons.

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According to reporting by Reuters, Kroger is still committed to building more automated warehouses in partnership with Ocado despite slowing a roll-out of sites, Ocado CEO Tim Steiner told reporters Tuesday.

Currently, Kroger has Customer Fulfillment Centers (CFCs) in Monroe, Ohio; Groveland, Fla.; Forest Park, Ga.; Pleasant Prairie, Wis.; Dallas; Romulus, Mich.; Aurora, Colo.; and Frederick, Md. The one in Aurora just recently became operational.

When asked about the status of automated CFCs at Krogers last quarterly results meeting, CFO Gary Millerchip gave the impression that the company was still trying to understand customer behavior and how automated systems can best meet that behavior. Millerchip also admitted determining locations for the new CFCs was more difficult than first thought.

Still, Kroger wants to keep the build moving, and for good reason. Online sales at the grocery retailer grew 12% during the final three months of last year compared to the same time period of 2021, according to Ocado. The thought is Kroger’s online business can be just as profitable as its brick-and-mortar business. Furthermore, Ocado’s revenue with Kroger and other stores around the world more than doubled in 2022.

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