Google Wallet Cuts Gift & Loyalty Card Support
If you’re an avid Google Wallet user, you may have received an email announcing the removal of the support for gift and loyalty cards on the mobile-wallet service. If you still have your physical cards with you, then you have nothing to fear. Others will need to spend their card balances by August 21st, the scheduled date of the gift and loyalty card doomsday.
Google’s NFC based digital wallet has faced some issues with consumer adoption, ranging from facing the technical hurdles of needing more users with NFC enabled phones, to actually being blocked from AT&T and Verizon (which along with T-Mobile are working on their own mobile-wallet, Isis).
This development is another setback for Google Wallet, after having removed support of prepaid cards in September of 2012. Google Wallet was dreamed up of being an all-in-one replacement for physical wallets, but its support for different payment types has slowly dwindled. Removing support for gift and loyalty cards may have been a response to retailers and merchants who want to control their own brand and shopping experiences.
Google’s official email ends with: “We’re working with retailers on other options for gift and loyalty card redemption within Google Wallet, and are excited to share them with you soon.”