Wright Express says NFC trial a success
19 May, 2009
category: Contactless, Financial, NFC
Wright Express, a South Portland, Maine provider of payment processing and information management services, says it has successfully completed a multi-city NFC mobile payments trial involving Sheetz convenience stores and contactless/NFC software provider ViVOtech.
During the trial, drivers used their Sheetz Fleet Business Advantage card loaded into their specially enabled NFC phones to make fuel and convenience store purchases at hundreds of Sheetz locations by just waving the at contactless-enabled readers. Wright Express found it was able to authorize and process the mobile transactions as easily as those done by drivers using plastic cards.
Post interviews with participating fleet drivers showed they overwhelmingly approved the NFC technology, citing the phone as an “easy, fast and convenient” payment method. Some mentioned that they preferred purchasing with the phone “because they always carry a phone, but sometimes forget their wallet.”
The pilot also gave drivers the ability to make mobile phone purchases inside the store as well. Sheetz has enabled all of its locations with contactless payment technology at the pumps and inside the store at the cash register.
ViVOtech provided the end-to-end NFC mobile solution for this pilot including a mobile wallet, over The air fleet card provisioning infrastructure software and the contactless/NFC terminals.