Chip & PIN Key To Vending Industry Market Growth
Nov 12 2004 : With APACS reporting three-quarters of UK cardholders to hold at least one new chip and PIN-secured debit or credit card at present, merchants have an opportunity to grow sales in unattended and vending environments. By end-2004, APACS expects 40 chip and PIN payments every second, and 87 per cent of consumers interviewed a year after the UK’s chip and PIN trial in Northampton believed PINs were more secure than signatures. The momentum of chip and PIN usage is clearly gathering pace. Chip & PIN-enabled vending machine and kiosk usage is also set to grow, enabling merchants to sell higher-value goods while reducing card fraud and cash reserves at machines.
Card fraud is an issue in all retail environments, but chip and PIN-secured payments can boost consumer confidence in the security of card transactions, whether the till is attended or not. The vending industry is currently at the center of three converging trends, namely improved vending technology, greater consumer acceptance of unattended sales and higher security for credit card payment. Vending machine operators with EMV payment-enabled machines stand to gain revenues from larger-value purchases by consumers who will have confidence in the security of the payment, and from the ability to offer higher-value goods.
The vending industry has traditionally been characterized by low-value payments. This is down to a number of factors, not least the relative insecurity of machines, which are susceptible to vandalism. If chip and PIN-secured payments are available at vending machines and in-store kiosks however, retailers can increase product ranges and sales in the knowledge that payments are secure, while offering consumers added convenience. As the technology enabler for secure card transactions in unattended retail environments, chip & PIN can help position vending kiosks as a conduit to retailers’ multi-channel sales growth.
APACS