The Paypers

According to the press release, the survey indicated that 33% of the targeted group are unlikely to meet the deadline, at which point fraud liability is expected to shift from card issuers to fuel merchants. The data includes survey responses from fuel merchants that collectively represent 46,000 gas stations nationwide – major oil companies, grocers, and convenience stores.

While almost half are nowhere near ready, 67% expect to be ready by the April 2021 deadline, and 97% expect to be ready before the end of next year. A third of the major fuel and convenience merchants surveyed have fully implemented EMV across their gas stations, and another 20% are more than halfway toward full implementation.

According to the company, without EMV implementation, merchants stand to face major fraud losses, which is further complicated by the impact of COVID-19 on businesses. Therefore, those that don’t meet the deadline can unfortunately expect increased chargebacks and higher fraud costs as they become targets for fraudsters.

Some key findings from the research, regarding data security and fraud include:

60% of major fuel and convenience merchants are considering improving fraud management alongside EMV changeover;
37% are considering point-to-point encryption and 26% are considering tokenization.

Regarding digital payments and additional improvements, the research highlighted the following:

85% of fuel merchants are planning to implement contactless payments alongside EMV;
70% are considering mobile payments;
67% are evaluating how to integrate loyalty initiatives at the fuel dispenser;
77% are considering investing in, or are already supporting, alternative payment methods.

Almost half of the fuel merchants are currently unprepared to meet the EMV deadline