• Google is shutting down its Google Pay app in the U.S. on June 4, 2024. The payment infrastructure will still be available for ecommerce transactions and in-store tap-to-pay capabilities.
• The app will still be available in India and Singapore.
• Google is funneling users to Google Wallet, which U.S. consumers use 5x more than Google Pay.

Take a second to think about the last time you opened up the Google Pay app on your phone to make a payment or manage your digital payment cards…..

That may be the reason Google plans to shut down the U.S. version of its standalone Google Pay app. Starting June 4, 2024, users in the U.S. will no longer be able to access Google Pay. Instead, Google is funneling users to Google Wallet, which in the U.S. is used 5x more than Google Pay.

This move won’t impact the infrastructure of Google Pay– users will still be able to use the online payment system to checkout online or tap-to-pay in a physical brick-and-mortar store. Additionally, Google Pay will still be available to users in India and Singapore. In fact, Google said it will continue to build for the “unique needs” in those countries.

For now, here’s what U.S. users need to know:

• Users can view and transfer their Google Pay balance to their bank account using the app until June 4. After that time, users can transfer their funds using the Google Pay website.
• Users can access the offers and deals search capabilities within a new deals destination via Google Search.
• After June 4, users will no longer have the ability to send, request, or receive peer-to-peer money transfers from the U.S. Google Pay app.

Google made clear that just because the app is dissolving, Google Pay isn’t going away. In fact, the company says it has “invested in making payments as fast and seamless as possible — like improving Google Pay autofill in Chrome, making it easy to pay for public transit and expanding the types of passes you can store in Wallet.”

Google Pay last made fintech headlines in December of 2023, when the company announced it was partnering with Affirm and Zip to add BNPL options for users in the online checkout flow.

Photo by Deepanker Verma

• Google Pay is partnering with both Affirm and Zip to offer BNPL at checkout.
• The BNPL option will launch with select merchants in the first quarter of next year in a pilot phase.
• Google’s move into BNPL follows Apple’s launch of Apple Pay Later and Amazon’s integration with Affirm, both of which began this fall.

As buy now, pay later (BNPL) rises high on analysts’ lists of hot trends for 2024, today’s news of Google adopting the technology may make the BNPL trend climb to the top next year.

Affirm and Zip announced separately (Affirm’s and Zip’s) that their BNPL technology will be available to U.S. consumers transacting online using Google Pay at select merchants. The integration will roll out in a pilot phase in the first quarter of next year and will roll out to more merchants after that.

During the pilot phase, shoppers at select merchants will see a promotional banner at the top of the Google Pay online checkout page promoting Zip’s and Affirm’s BNPL options. If the user chooses BNPL as their payment method and are approved, they can spread out their payments in installments for purchases over $35.

“With Zip available in the Google Pay checkout experience, we are bridging a gap and providing a flexible credit product for the many consumers overlooked by traditional credit products,” said Zip Co-founder and U.S. CEO Larry Diamond. “By offering Zip payment solutions through Google Pay, we’re empowering consumers with more choices while providing merchants with a powerful tool to increase conversion rates and build lasting customer relationships. It’s a win-win scenario where convenience meets commerce, fostering a more dynamic and responsive shopping experience.”

Zip’s Pay-In-4 BNPL tool is limited to four installments spread across six weeks, while Affirm offers consumers repayment terms that range from four interest-free payments every two weeks to monthly installments.

“By integrating Affirm into Google Pay, we are making it easier for consumers to take advantage of Affirm’s flexible and transparent payment options and for merchants to drive growth,” said Affirm Director of Strategic Partnerships Jamie Cunningham. “This is an exciting step forward in our distribution strategy, as roughly half of shoppers are using digital wallets more frequently than they did before the pandemic and mobile commerce is growing faster than overall e-commerce.”

Google’s use of two vendors in this area is unusual. It is possible that it plans to test which offering is most popular among users during the pilot phase and then limit its partnership to one BNPL player for the official launch. However, it’s more likely that Google aims to expand its customer base by targeting users familiar with either Zip or Affirm, enhancing its reach across different customer segments.

Also worth noting is how closely Google is following its competition. Apple Pay rolled out its own BNPL tool, Apple Pay Later, in October and Amazon entered the BNPL space last month in partnership with Affirm. With Google Pay joining the ranks and making BNPL more accessible for consumers, the use of BNPL is likely to skyrocket in 2024, especially as consumers recover from holiday spending while fighting cost of living increases.

Photo by Matthew Kwong on Unsplash

After reviving Google Pay in November of last year, Google made an announcement today that is sure to turn some heads in the fintech space. The two most relevant elements in today’s news release are new shopping options and spending insights.

To offer new shopping options, Google has partnered with Safeway and Target to help users browse weekly deals on groceries at Safeway and Target locations from within the Google Pay app. The app will enable shoppers to save their favorite items to purchase at a later date. Soon, users will be able to turn on push notifications to see deals from 500 Safeway stores and nationwide Target stores when they are nearby (if they have location services enabled).

The additional embedded shopping tools bring added stickiness to the app. However, Google will need to offer shopping experiences at more than just two stores to truly capture users’ attention.

Google Pay’s new spending insights tool comes a bit closer to what consumers may expect to see at their traditional bank. Via the Insights tab, users can see their account balance, view upcoming bill reminders, analyze weekly spend summaries, and receive alerts when large transactions are made. Under the Insights umbrella, Google also made it easy for users to view transactions by merchant or by category.

While the new spending insights may prove to be useful to shoppers, without more robust budgeting, planning, and forecasting tools Google Pay is unlikely to win consumers over from their traditional bank.

In today’s release, Google also added two more cities in which travelers can pay for transit. Via an integration with Token Transit, users in the San Francisco Bay area and Chicago can purchase and use mobile transit tickets through the Google Pay app. The two new cities join the list of 80 cities and towns across the U.S. that already offer travelers transit purchasing capabilities via Google Pay.

Regardless of the shortcomings of today’s new features, both banks and fintechs should be wary of Google Pay’s next moves. The app’s embedded finance capabilities, including grocery shopping and added transit ticket purchasing, are a signal of what is to come. Similarly, if Google Pay continues to add more personal financial management tools, such as budgeting and retirement planning, consumers may want to spend more time within the Google Pay environment and less time in their traditional banks’ app.