Speaking of catering to the un-banked: Walmart.com has found a way to accept cash for online purchases

Observation:  As a follow-up to our story about banking earlier today (see immediately below), we were intrigued by this nugget from TechCrunch.  It explains that customers can “buy” items online at Walmart’s website, but then pay for that cart full of goods in-person at a Walmart store.  Click here to see the story.

Implications:   The TechCrunch story indicates that only around 15% of transactions in a Walmart store are paid for with a credit card.  If such a significant majority of purchases are paid with cash, it makes all the sense in the world to accept cash in the online channel of that store, too. 

Undoubtedly, there are folks reading this who are thinking, “This is nuts!  They’re forcing the consumer to physically visit a store to complete their online purchase!”  But undoubtedly, there are folks at Walmart who would answer, “That’s right.  And the problem is…?”

[Note:  Thanks to friend and colleague Matt Sunshine for tipping me off to the TechCrunch story.]

Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.