Wal-Mart Expands Move to Boycott Visa Cards in Canada
September 15 2016 - 7:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Robin Sidel
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it will stop accepting cards from Visa
Inc. in its 16 stores located in the Canadian province of Manitoba
on Oct. 24, representing an escalation in its fee fight with the
card network.
The move comes after Wal-Mart stopped accepting Visa cards at
its three stores in Thunder Bay, Ontario in July. At the time,
Wal-Mart said that it planned to roll out the program across Canada
if the two companies couldn't reach an agreement on fees.
"We are committed to continuing discussions and we are still
hopeful we can reach an agreement with Visa," said Randy Hargrove,
a Wal-Mart spokesman.
Wal-Mart employees will start posting signs on Thursday in the
affected stores so that customers will be aware of the change, he
said. The retailer has seven stores in Winnipeg, which is the
capital of Manitoba. Wal-Mart has more than 400 stores in Canada
and nearly 12,000 globally.
Visa is the largest payments network in Canada, with 50.6
million cards in circulation and $232.59 billion worth of
transactions rung up on its plastic last year, according to the
Nilson Report, an industry newsletter.
Wal-Mart started the Visa boycott in Thunder Bay because it is a
relatively small and sparsley populated market. Unlike Thunder Bay,
some of the stores in Manitoba are open 24 hours and have
self-checkout lines. That makes it technically more difficult to
stop accepting a specific type of card.
Mr. Hargrove, the Wal-Mart spokesman, said that sales in Thunder
Bay have been "better than expected" following the move to stop
taking Visa. "Customers have adjusted their payment methods
accordingly," he said.
Visa launched a marketing effort to combat the Thunder Bay move,
offering gift cards to Wal-Mart customers who used their Visa cards
at grocery stores.
Write to Robin Sidel at robin.sidel@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 15, 2016 07:14 ET (11:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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