The Walmart/Visa Disagreement is Finally Over -- Visa Can Be Used at Walmart Stores Across Canada
By Kate Musgrove
January 6, 2017After six months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, Visa cards are again being accepted as a form of payment in all Walmart stores across Canada starting tomorrow, Friday, January 6. While the ban was first announced as beginning in Thunder Bay and moving across Canada in a "phased rollout" it actually only extended to the three locations in Thunder Bay, Ontario and later, the sixteen Walmart locations in Manitoba. In total, less than 5% of the Walmart locations in Canada were impacted by this ban.
Details on the resolution are scant from both Walmart and Visa, and so far, there isn't any indication of which party made concessions to close the deal, but regardless, this is good news for consumers in Thunder Bay and Manitoba.
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View allNow idiot shoppers who think Walmart had cheaper prices get to enjoy price hikes there since there's little major competition against them now (just as Visa).
The real bullshit post of the year was somebody saying Target would come back to Canada for the absurd reasoning that U.S. states want to leave America for Canada.
If Aldi's entered Canada and attacked Walmart with the same strategy, Walmart would see losses in shoppers heading for lower prices at aldis and probably see a small erosion in mid/high tier shoppers to Loblaws. This is unless Walmart adjusts prices to compete with a new entrant.
Canadians showed with target that they care about price. When it comes down to it the reason target failed was price, they were consistently more expensive than Walmart. If they had undercut Walmart on price consistently on staple items then they would have erroded Walmarts base shoppers, but they relied on thier name and cache to hold higher prices and they failed.
The problem with US general merchandise/grocery stores moving to Canada is that they are almost all regional vs Canadian national chains. Target had the best chance but failed. Walgreens would compete with not only Walmart but shoppers, a recipe for disaster.
If someone wanted to come too Canada and compete, a national strategy is silly. More than half the Canadian population lives within what; 600 km of the CN tower? How about Kroger moving in and challenging for that market?
17 million shoppers in a stretch from Windsor to Quebec city along the 401 corridor with in place infrastructure, rail, road, retail space, logistical resources....
FWIW, the Aldi concept reminds me of the old Valdi stores, limited sku/deep discounts. A couple of years ago Loblaws tested a store called "The Box" that seemed similar.
(Take this with a grain of salt. CFIB is the lobby group for small and mid-size businesses. What else would they say?)
Oh target will be coming back once they pay their bills. There are American states that want to join Canada and they have target with them. They'll be back.
I wonder how many European cards offer 1% to 4% rebates?
People think these "rewards" are free. They're not. Someone has to pay for them. If you want to know who then look in your mirror.
So if we want to see lower interchange fees we're going to have to give up our addiction to "free" "rewards."
Disappointed but not surprised.
Hopefully this'll wake up some powerful people that Walmart's dominance in Canada can't continue.
We needed Target (or someone like them) for competition. Now Visa needs someone like them as well.
"It's after Christmas and somebody looked at their numbers and said, 'It wasn't as strong as we thought,'" he said in an interview. "And my bet is it's Visa."
Satov suggested the card company had more to lose in the long run from feuding with a giant retailer such as Walmart. "People don't look for the best deal to find the cheapest TV or gadget or toy and then say, 'I'm not going there, they don't take Visa,'" he said. "That's not the way people think."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/visa-walmart-1.3923039
Visa announced that effective today they will be accepted by Walmart in those areas where they have been banning the use of Visa
(why would you assume that it was Walmart that blinked?)
somebody blinked !
VISA will now be accepted at all Manitoba and Thunder Bay stores (the only stores which were banned at the 1st place) starting on Friday (Jan 6th)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/visa-walmart-1.3923039
And while many people pay with debit, now it is increasingly the norm for people to use their credit card everywhere to get as many reward points as possible. And many people live paycheck to paycheck, and need the balance of their card to pay everyday transactions.
For instance in Quebec, most people use a Visa card from Desjardins. And it is the only province in Canada where the Wal-Mart card was never offered, which has to do with the Wal-Mart card being emitted by a Bank Wal-Mart created for Canada with a special charter. It is due to Quebec having more strict banking laws. So Wal-Mart is never going to stop taking Visa here.
There is a reason why after months they only removed it from a handful of stores around Thunder Bay and in Manitoba, places that are more marginal where a loss of volume means much less.
If they removed it from all of Alberta, all of Ontario or all of Quebec, considering most people only use the credit card from their bank (which is a Visa), there would be severe consequences. There is NO WAY they will do that, and Visa knows it. Visa is replying with this contest in Manitoba purely for PR reasons.
It's all pure bullshit and it really pisses me off that Wal-Mart thinks they can bully anyone they want to get more profit, and they have the GALL to play the victims and say that Visa is the big bad wolf that tries to burden them with abusive fees.
Yes, the single biggest company in the world is the victim in all this. **** YOU!
So I just go to elsewhere to shop groceries and that's all