Like a reconfigured checkout, easier to access customer service area or a small business department focused on female customers in acknowledgment that small business owners are often female and that women shop for electronics differently than men.

FORBES: Where Best Buy Went Bad

Perhaps the most important point is that when anyone with a commercial interest pays for access, the customer typically believes he or she is getting an advantage over rivals.

BBC: Pimp my chief executive

For a fee, some wallet providers will let retailers access customer data, such as how many times a particular shopper has purchased an item or what the best-selling item of the week was.

WSJ: What retailers need to know about mobile wallets