Walgreens Customers Can Now Link Rewards Accounts to Android Pay

“The move eliminates the need for Android users to scan their Rewards cards separately when paying with Google’s mPayment platform.”

Walgreens is stepping up its mobile payment support with a new feature allowing members of its Walgreens Balance Rewards program to link their loyalty program accounts to Android Pay.

The move eliminates the need for Android users to scan their Rewards cards separately when paying with Google’s mPayment platform. In a statement announcing the upgrade, Walgreens SVP and CIO Abhi Dhar framed the move as another example of how Walgreens is “continually looking at ways to enhance the customer experience through innovative and forward-thinking technologies”. Dhar added, “We’re proud to have been the first retailer to integrate our loyalty program with the two leading mobile payment providers,” referring to Apple Pay, which Walgreens also supports.

That mPayment platform actually enabled Balance Rewards support last autumn, and it isn’t clear why Android Pay took so long to follow suit. In any case, the rewards card integration should come as a welcome development to the many Android users among Walgreen’s purported 85 million Balance Rewards users. For its part, Google’s Product Management Senior Director Pali Bhat celebrated the move, proclaiming, “Now, Walgreens customers can speed through the entire checkout process in as few as two taps with their Android phones.”