H-E-B adds tap-to-pay at all Central Market stores, what does this mean for the RGV?

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AUSTIN (KXAN) — Paying for groceries with your phone is now an option at two more Central Texas grocery stores.

H-E-B has added tap-to-pay options at its Central Market stores across Texas, including the North Lamar and Westgate locations in Austin, a spokesperson confirmed Wednesday.

The Texas-based grocery chain piloted the tap-to-pay services at its Lovers Lane Central Market store in Dallas earlier this summer.

An H-E-B spokesperson said the expansion happened in mid-August at all 10 Central Market stores.

When is tap-to-pay coming to H-E-B?

Shoppers may have to wait a bit longer until they can use Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Google Pay at their local H-E-B.

Previously, the grocery company said it hopes to offer tap-to-pay services at more stores in the future.

Is tap to pay coming to the Rio Grande Valley?

ValeyCentral reached out to H-E-B Director of Public Affairs Linda Tovar to ask if the Rio Grande Valley locations can expect to see this change anytime soon. Here is the chain's response:

"At H-E-B, we’re always exploring a broad range of technologies to enhance how customers shop and pay for products," Tovar said. "We launched a pilot program to test digital tap-to-pay systems, which is now available at all our Central Market locations across Texas. While we hope to offer these tap-to-pay services at more stores in the future, currently, there are no other plans to share."

How does tap-to-pay work?

Tap-to-pay is a contactless payment method where buyers can tap a card, smartphone or wearable device to a payment terminal instead of inserting or swiping a card, according to e-commerce platform Shopify.

Payments use near-field communication technology, which uses short-range radio frequency to communicate between the payment terminal and the contactless card or device, according to Shopify.