Majority of C-Stores Don't Accept Chip Cards at Pump: Conexxus

Majority of C-Stores Don't Accept Chip Cards at Pump: Conexxus

July 8, 2020

Slightly more than half (52%) of convenience store operators that sell fuel have not deployed chip payment card acceptance at any of their gas islands, based on a study by NACS technology affiliate Conexxus conducted Feb. 27- March31 this year.

Small retailers are struggling the most with chip card acceptance at the forecourt, primarily due to the high cost, the survey suggests. Vendors have said the cost of implementing chip cards at the fuel islands can easily run about $100,000 per site.

In less than a year, the industry faces a critical deadline to comply with the Europay Mastercard Visa technology standards for chip cards. Fuel retailers must install EMV at the pump by April 2021 or assume liability for counterfeit card fraud charges. Payment card networks recently moved the liability deadline to next April from Oct. 1, 2020, due to complications tied to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Of those reporting no sites with outdoor chip card acceptance, some 89% said they intend to implement EMV at the pump, and 10% said they were undecided. Conexxus said those undecided retailers all owned or operated 10 stores or less. However, "those who thought the risk did not justify the expense fell to 0% in 2020" compared to 43% of respondents in a 2019 survey.

"Small operators understand the risk, but may not be able to afford the upgrades," the study concluded.

Just 15% of retailers responding to the survey said they fully deployed EMV at the fuel islands. However, "with the exception of owners/operators of 10 stores or less, site owners and operators are making progress in installing at least a few outdoor EMV sites," the report said.

At about two-thirds of the sites, the top challenges were obtaining certifications and software.

The study is based on 91 completed surveys representing 16,095 retail sites. The median respondent has nine sites.

The results are similar to findings of a Petroleum Marketers Association of America survey released in May that showed a large share of gas stations were unprepared to accept chip cards at the gas islands. In that study, as many as one in five petroleum marketers surveyed said none of the sites in their gas station network would be ready for the move to chip payment cards at the pump by the now-discarded deadline of Oct. 1, 2020.

PMAA surveyed 253 petroleum distributorships of different sizes from around the country.