Brian DuCharme, Vice President of Product Management at TNS, shares with the readers of The Paypers some key insights into a couple of surprising findings of their new report
A new report published by Transaction Network Services (TNS) this month suggests that most consumers are open to new experiences when they pay-at-the-pump, which could provide significant revenue opportunities for retailers. The TNS report, ‘The Market Opportunity for Secure Commerce at the Pump’, explores the findings of the survey* conducted among US, UK, and Australian adults.
The survey asked consumers about their current usage of pay-at-the-pump facilities and their willingness to engage with new technologies and services at the fuel dispenser. A notable finding was the eagerness of consumers to want to save time by ordering items to be delivered to them at the pump while they are filling up. 44% of respondents globally expressed this preference. But when looking at segments, this preference grows significantly as 62% of 25-to-34-year-olds and 59% of 16-to-24 year-olds would like to order prepared food or beverages at the pump and have them delivered to them.
Men were the keenest globally, but the report found some interesting variations when drilling down into the male category by age in the different countries surveyed. In the US, 65% of men aged 35 to 44 indicated that they would like to order prepared food at the pump and have it delivered to their vehicle. For men aged 25 to 34 in the UK and Australia, this preference was even higher at 70%.
Why is this appealing to consumers?
In today’s fast paced world, we are trying to experience it all. How many of us have looked up at the clock and wished for the power to pause time, maybe just for an hour, so we can catch up and take a breath without missing anything?
Convenience is increasingly overlapping with efficiency. We are looking for ways to become more efficient and achieve more in a shorter amount of time. Ordering at the pump and accepting delivery in less time than it takes to fill-up is another example of how we might save a few minutes here and there.
For example, if a driver fills up once a week on his lunch break and saves five minutes ordering his sandwich at the pump, that equates to more than four hours over the course of a year and more than six days in a 40 year career.
Pay-at-the-pump is also becoming a more common place feature, and consumers are growing more comfortable with the service. In the US it has been widely available for many years, while in the UK and Australia the rollout has been slower but still steady. As the rollout speeds up and the US works to upgrade to EMV terminals, the opportunity is there for savvy retailers to deploy technologies which can tap into this potential new revenue stream.
How can the industry meet this demand?
We are seeing new startups emerge, which can address this evolution of consumer behaviour. The challenge, however, is to ensure that the payments within these services are performed and supported by secure, resilient technologies.
If, in their rush to market, these startups opt for low-cost basic options, there is a significant risk of data breach which, if one transpired, would severely impact consumer confidence. To protect against this scenario, TNS engages these startups to use our established and trusted technology so that they can work with a PCI DSS Level 1 certified provider. For instance, TNS recently announced a new collaboration with WannLynx to offer convenience store chains, increased control, and content management of their terminals at the forecourt. This collaboration enables retailers to deliver key messaging and engage customers with a variety of incentives to purchase other products or services while at the pump. Providing timely offers or discounts for instore products is a real-time method to raising the average sale price of a transaction. Also, using TNS’ industry leading secure managed data communications to connect these fuel pumps helps protect both the retailer and the consumer from a data breach.
TNS is actively engaging with organisations that chose to enter this space. As the report illustrates, consumers are ready to embrace this new world order so it’s important that the implementation of this service securely meet everyone’s expectations.
TNS’ full report is available to download from the TNS website.
*KANTAR commissioned a survey on behalf of Transaction Network Services. The survey interviewed 1,029 US adults, 1,045 UK adults, and 1,052 Australian adults, and was conducted by online self-completion interviews between 5-9 September 2019 by Kantar. The survey is designed to be nationally representative of adults interviewed per country. The surveys use a quota sample based on age interlocked within gender and a regional quota. Post fieldwork correctional weighting within age, gender, and region has been used to ensure the representativeness of the survey.
About Brian DuCharme
Brian DuCharme is TNS’ Vice President of Payment Solutions, and is responsible for leading TNS’ global product team and driving product innovation in payments solutions. Brian has over 20 years' experience in the telecom and payments industries having previously worked for First Data, Mastercard, and BCGI.
About Transaction Network Services
Transaction Network Services (TNS) has been a trusted provider to the payments industry for over 25 years. TNS’ broad portfolio of solutions includes secure and resilient transaction delivery services, used by many of the top banks, transaction processors, and ATM deployers around the world.
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