Survey: More than 50% of retailers not fully prepared for EMV deadline
Naples, Fla. -- With only nine months until the EMV migration deadline, retail and technology professionals are still unprepared, according to a recent survey by ACI Worldwide. The survey was conducted in January 2015 at the National Retail Federation’s 104th Annual Convention and Expo, “The Big Show,” in New York.
Principle findings of the survey included:
• EMV readiness. Nearly one-quarter of respondents are still not fully prepared for the migration to chip & PIN technology, despite the impending October deadline. Of the retailers surveyed (55% of total respondents), 14% still have work to do, 19% are not prepared and 22% are still evaluating their options.
• Breaches and payments security. More than half (59%) of respondents cited that the past year’s data breaches have impacted investments in payment security initiatives. Thirty-nine percent have already increased investments in payment security initiatives while 20% indicated they plan to increase investments in payment security initiatives over the next 12-24 months.
• Omnichannel. Beyond payments security, respondents anticipate the top three biggest investments will be in omni-channel sales/seamless customer experience (37%), mobile payments acceptance technology (20%) and online/eCommerce initiatives (20%).
• Mobile wallet war. Respondents predict Apple (47%) will emerge as the dominant mobile payment technology provider. Google (21%) came in second followed by PayPal (15%).
The survey found a notable lack of urgency regarding the migration to chip & PIN technology. EMV — Europay, MasterCard and Visa — is the global standard for credit and debit card payments. The industry deadline for U.S. retailers to adopt EMV technology is October 2015, at which point retailers without EMV-enabled point-of-sale systems will become liable for credit card fraud at their locations. Only 12% of retailer respondents are already compliant, while 19% are confident they will meet the October deadline.