That looks like a US version of Faster Payments* (UK) or SWIFT (Eurozone) that enables instant wire transfers between bank accounts. I doubt very much it is suitable as an alternative to credit/debit cards for retail payments. For one thing, there's zero fraud protection, it's the electronic equivalent to paying for something with a cashier's check. For another, it's a pretty laborious process - you have to sign in to your online banking, enter the recipient's bank account details and the correct transaction reference, probably do some kind of 2FA.
For a third thing, while in the UK banks generally don't charge anything for transfers, the Bank of England charges a few pennies (£0.07 last I heard) per transaction. If people were routinely making several of those payments every day the way they do with cards, I'm sure banks would start charging fees.
* By the way, Faster Payments went live in the UK in 2008, but it still took a couple of years for all consumer banks to adopt it.
For a third thing, while in the UK banks generally don't charge anything for transfers, the Bank of England charges a few pennies (£0.07 last I heard) per transaction. If people were routinely making several of those payments every day the way they do with cards, I'm sure banks would start charging fees.
* By the way, Faster Payments went live in the UK in 2008, but it still took a couple of years for all consumer banks to adopt it.