Chase Shutters Chase Pay

JPMorgan has discontinued its Chase Pay app that allowed users to pay with their smartphones in stores, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The app will stop working in the early part of next year, but users will still be able to use Chase Pay on websites and in the apps of participating retailers.

The Chase Pay app, which lets customers tap at POS terminals, was introduced four years ago as a way to compete with companies like Apple.

The mobile payment revolution has spurred changes in the way people pay for products and services around the world. China has especially been at the forefront, but the U.S. market hasn’t adopted the new technologies as rapidly.

“When we started this, it was four years ago – the payment space has changed a lot over the period of time and customer behavior has changed,” said Eric Connolly, head of Chase Pay. “A lot of merchants have shifted to ‘buy online, pick up in-store’ and have invested in their online presence and their apps.”

JPMorgan had aimed to take a piece of the payments market from PayPal, which has a very popular digital wallet that is accepted by around 70 percent of online merchants. As PYMNTS reported, less than 1 percent of online merchants accept Chase Pay.

JPMorgan spokesperson Pablo Rodriguez would not say how many online merchants accept Chase Pay, but he did say the number is expected to increase as time goes on, adding that Grubhub will soon accept the payment method.

JPMorgan has been aggressive in its rollout of tech-forward projects, but it has also shown a willingness to jettison them if they’re not immediately successful. For example, the company shut down its digital bank Finn just a year after it was introduced. It also stopped a collaboration with FinTech company OnDeck, which was used to help SMBs get loans.