Report: The leading type of retailer ready for EMV is…

The mandate for retailers to accept chip-enabled, EMV-compliant payment cards starts Oct. 1. But how ready an individual retailer is may depend on what type of retailer they are.

At least that’s according to a new study from The Strawhecker Group (TSG), which shows that a leading 69% of shoe stores and 59% of department stores have EMV-ready POS terminals .

On the lower end of the spectrum, 24% of bookstores and 23% of stationery stores have EMV-ready terminals. Previous TSG research shows that 27% of all retailers will be EMV-ready by Oct. 1.

“It makes sense that certain retail merchant types are more ready than others for the liability shift, as some are much more likely to potentially see fraudulent transactions,” said Mike Strawhecker, principal at TSG. “While many retailers have not yet upgraded their terminals, big-box merchants such as Walmart and Target are ready for Oct. 1.”

The sample was based on a minimum of 75 current credit and debit card-accepting merchants in the U.S. per retail category.