CARO, Mich. -- GC Express, a gas station northeast of Flint, Mich., is now offering a free coffee or fountain drink as a way to entice customers to pay with their mobile phone—a payment program tied to a local credit union that will ultimately mean a cheaper transaction for the merchant.
The Caro, Mich., station is partnering with Team One Credit Union, Saginaw, Mich., and its mobile banking app. Customers using the mobile app on fuel purchases of more than $10 will receive the free drink.
The payment service comes from provider MShift, Newark, Calif., and is integrated inside the store and at the pump via the San Jose, Calif.-based Verifone’s Commander Site Controller.
Team One Credit Union is the first financial institution in the United States, to issue MShift’s patented AnyWhereMobile Payment Network app, making it available for its members to use on their iPhone and Android devices, MShift officials said.
“Gas stations in our community are excited to have a mobile-payment option issued by a trusted, local financial institution that lowers their interchange costs by more than half,” said Tim Ferrio, eServices supervisor at Team One Credit Union, adding that gas stations pay a flat 15-cent fee per transaction. “By end of 2016, we hope to bring on 20 gas stations in Michigan, using the Verifone Commander Site Controller, and benefit both the gas station owners and our members.”
To pay with AnyWhereMobile, Team One members open the mobile banking app on their smartphone, scan the quick-response (QR) code at the pump or the register, and authorize the transaction using their personal identification number (PIN) or fingerprint. Once the transaction is complete, they receive a receipt for their purchase via the mobile-banking app. More than 30 other local merchants near Team One also are accepting AnyWhereMobile payments.
AnyWhereMobile transactions are equivalent to real-time funds transfers within a bank or credit union. There is no risk of insufficient funds for the merchant, as it is not an automated clearinghouse (ACH) transaction, MShift officials said. ACH transactions often rely on a “float” period to settle transactions. In addition to secure transactions and reduced risk, AnyWhereMobile reduces transaction costs for merchants, and they can invest the difference into improving and expanding their customer rewards programs to increase customer participation and retention, MShift officials said.
“We are unlike any other mobile-payment platform on the market today,” said Jacqueline Snell, vice president of strategic initiatives for MShift. “We are not an ACH transaction and we don’t ride on the existing, expensive payment networks. We offer higher security and lower costs to the benefit of everyone involved.”
The Commander Site Controller is Verifone’s site-management software platform that supports all petroleum and card brands, providing increased speed with at-the-pump and in-store payment acceptance, fueling operations and back office control. It incorporates a Conexxus Mobile standard-based applied programming interface (API) protocols to streamline gas stations and convenience stores’ ability to support mobile-payment apps while improving business processes, reducing costs and increasing productivity. Conexxus is an Alexandria, Va.-based standards body that advises the c-store industry’s NACS association on technology issues.
“Verifone facilitates alternative mobile-payment acceptance, enabling gas stations to improve the customer experience,” said Dan Yienger, senior vice president and general manager of petroleum for Verifone. “Our point-of-sale and site-management software solutions help operators better manage their business, improve profitability, increase consumer loyalty and accept mobile payments and EMV [or Europay MasterCard Visa data-security processes]. We are committed to incorporating Conexxus standards in our open API.”
Verifone handles a host of transaction functions, including opportunities for connected commerce. It is connecting payment devices to the cloud—merging the online and in-store shopping experience and creating the next generation of digital engagement between merchants and consumers. The company has a 30-year history of data security with approximately 29 million devices and terminals deployed worldwide. It has clients and partners in more than 150 countries, including many well-known retail brands, financial institutions and payment providers.
MShift launched one of the first mobile-banking applications in the United States in 2001 and now introduces AnyWhereMobile, a patented mobile-payment network that offers an alternative to the plastic-card networks. In addition to mobile banking apps, AnyWhereMobile can be integrated into merchants’ mobile apps. AnyWhereMobile is the only open-loop mobile payment network that benefits customers, merchants and financial institutions while lowering the cost of payment acceptance for both brick-and-mortar and online commerce down to a flat 15-cent per transaction with no additional costs and chargeback.
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