Retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Best Buy Co. formed a company that would allow customers to pay with their mobile phones as they work to gain control over the growing method of processing purchases.

The company, named Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, is developing a mobile application, the retailers said today in a statement. The app is intended to work with all smartphones and as many forms of payment as possible, including Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. debit- and credit-card accounts, said Terry Scully, president of Target's financial and retail services.

The retailers see an opportunity to grab part of the emerging mobile-payments industry, which may expand to $170 billion in 2016 from $60 billion this year, according to Juniper Research. The venture also will try to improve the in-store experience and cut costs, including swipe fees the chains pay when consumers use a credit card, Scully said.