The current state of the U.S. petroleum retail industry, and the more than 150,000 gas stations and convenience stores across the country, is one of ongoing transition. Much like the broader spectrum of retail merchants, petro retail is reacting to recent changes in payment technology and security sweeping the landscape.
Among the current advancements in payments, the onemost pressing from a regulatory standpoint is EMV. The migration from magstripe to chip cards is already underway in retail, due to the October 2015 liability shift pushed by Visa and Mastercard. Since the shift, merchants not equipped to accept EMV payments are on the hook for any fraud-related liability.
For payment terminals in gas pumps, the deadline forEMV migration was set for October 2017, but in December2016, that deadline was pushed back to October 2020. Thedelay is due to the complex nature of fuel dispensers—merchants need to factor in not only the technology, but the regulatory obligation that comes with a combustible product like gasoline. The resulting three-year reprieve gives petro merchants more time to adopt EMV, which has emerged as the global standard in secure payment card transactions.
Verifone, aware of the vast undertaking EMV at the pump requires, partnered in 2014 with the top fuel dispenser provider in the business, Gilbarco, to address the matter head on. Under the partnership, Verifone provides the technology for EMV acceptance, which is then integrated into Gilbarco’s dispenser product line.
“When Visa announced the extension for EMV compliance, from 2017 to 2020, it gave retail operators more time to convert locations,” said Michael Tyler, Sr. Director of Global Petro Marketing for Verifone, about the EMV rollout. “It’s an enormous task with limited resources; time is really of the essence. Fuel is the last area not safe from EMV protections.”
In 2016, Verifone and Gilbarco launched FlexPay IV, the first PCI PTS 4.X-certified fuel dispenser payment terminal in the U.S. to support EMV. While FlexPay IV represents the best in payment security technology, that’s not where its innovation ends. The terminals also support NFC, mobile wallets, encryption, and 2D barcode scanning for loyalty, making FlexPay IV a truly universal, commerce-enabled device.
As it happens, while dispensers across the country are either being retrofitted or replaced to support EMV, the simultaneous emergence of mobile payment at the pump has created an opportunity for merchants to kill two birds with one stone, by upgrading to a terminal that can accept both EMV and mobile. In today’s app-driven society, it’s no surprise that gas companies are looking at ways to engage customers via their smartphones, and even their smartcars. By partnering with innovators in payment technology, giants like Gulf and ExxonMobil can offer more than just payment apps—they can provide value-added services like location searching/routing, loyalty programs, and more.
Just as it did with EMV, Verifone took a proactive approach when it came to mobile pay. Aligned with top partners in mobile payment tech, POS manufacturing, and petro retail, Verifone engaged with Conexxus—the standards body of the convenience store and petroleum market—to establish a new mobile payment API standard.
By adopting and deploying the new Conexxus Mobile Payment Standard, dubbed Mobile 2.0, Verifone is embracing a cooperative industry solution that also benefits the consumer.
“We’ve been able to partner with so many great companies in this space, all with different ways to deploy innovative payment and value-added services at the pump,” says James Hervey, Director, Product Management at Verifone. “It’s the beauty of having an open interface, with different providers offering their strengths and benefits. We’re essentially telling merchants to pick what best suits their needs—that we will support whatever payment scheme they bring to us.”
The payments industry is constantly evolving to make way for new advancements, and petroleum retail is no stranger to the rising tide. In fact, it’s becoming a haven for commerce innovation.
