A group of US retailers including Wal-Mart and Target are jointly developing a mobile payments service that would compete with rivals such as Google Wallet and Isis, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal. “Roughly two dozen” retailers are working  together on the project, it says.  The new venture appears motivated by concerns about current mobile-payment services.  The article quotes an executive called Steve Mott who runs a consulting firm called BetterBuyDesign which is working with the group of retailers as saying they “have decided they need to and can build a better system” than those currently available.  Security and privacy risks for customers are cited as one motivation as well as a belief among retailers they can create better services than those currently available.

Until now retailers have kept out of setting up mobile payments systems unlike other non-specialist sectors such as finance. While the likes of credit card firms and banks have actively joined mobile payments consortia, retailers have previously held back.  

In addition to Wal-Mart and Target, another participant in the scheme is Alon Venture which runs 7-Eleven convenience stores in Texas and New Mexico, as well as operating petrol stations under the Fina brand name.