CVS Steps Into the Mobile Payment System With CVS Pay

Last month, reports hinted that CVS may have been turning to Apple Pay for its in-store mobile payments system, however CVS Health recently launched a new mobile payments solution, not surprisingly named CVS Pay. It won’t just be a tool for making payments, though, as it seems to have learned lessons from some of the other releases that have been in play.

While CVS Pay will let users pay bills, it will also allow for prescription access, along with the ability to incorporate points in the CVS ExtraCare loyalty program. All great points, but it may be the streamlining of the overall system that does the most good. Normally, users have to present a CVS rewards card, or provide name and birthday to access the rewards program. With CVS Pay, users can not only make payments but get into the rewards program at the same time, a greatly streamlined system.

Brian Tilzer, who serves as CVS Health’s chief digital officer, noted “What we’re trying to do is provide real utility and solve real problems for customers using digital. With one scan, we’re taking away three or four extra steps that customers have lived with for a long time.” Tilzer elaborated, noting “It has to be more than just payments. The value is in combining a couple of these things…and the examples in the market where that has happened have worked really well.”

This is actually the first foray the company’s taken into mobile payments, having so far passed on everything from Apple Pay to Samsung Pay and all the other possible sources. It will only be available in New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania right now, but by the end of the year, it should be available everywhere.

It’s hard not to approve of this system, as it has both mobile payments and a rewards program connected to it. From there, it may well expand to offer more information or things like that, allowing users to make more informed purchases. Something like this could even tie into a fitness tracker, offering rewards points for exercise.

Whatever it offers, however, it’s going to have one great concept working for it. This should be successful with current CVS shoppers, and may well pull some others in besides.