The Wall Street Journal has revealed that a large group of big-name U.S. stores is planning its own entry into the burgeoning mobile payments market. The companies include Target, Wal-Mart, 7-Eleven and Sunoco and the group will be called the Merchant Customer Exchange. It’s at an “early stage”, the WSJ thinks, and as yet has no CEO or definitive launch date, but it’s nevertheless a very serious move to try to reap profits from what is widely expected to become the next way to pay for things in stores–by smartphone. Read the full story at Fast Company.