MasterCard Helps SMBs Get EMV-Ready

MasterCard is on a mission – its Chip 360 campaign is working down to the final days before the EMV liability shift deadline to ensure small businesses across the U.S. are ready to march full speed ahead into the world of chip-enabled payments. MPD CEO Karen Webster caught up with Steve Maluk, Shop Director at Bike Works, to discuss its recent EMV Makeover and why offering chip-card payments is key to serving its customers.

Since it announced the program back in May, MasterCard has been working to help SMBs get ready for EMV through a variety of initiatives. But one of the more unique aspects of the Chip 360 project is the EMV Makeover, which facilitated EMV chip-ready payment terminal upgrades for a few lucky local businesses.

Bike Works, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization focused on youth engagement and environmental conservation through the recycling of bicycles, was one of the chosen few who, through the support of MasterCard experts and Heartland Payments System, can now accept EMV payments through new chip-enabled terminals.

Maluk said introducing chip-card terminals at Bike Works’ community bike shop, which contributes nearly 40 percent to the organization’s budget through the sale of refurbished bikes and funds all of its recycling initiatives, seemed like the right move.

“It’s important to me that we are developing long-term relationships with our customers that are based on trust, our integrity and the ability to deliver value to them. Having a way to process their payments as safe as possible is a no-brainer,” Maluk explained.

“As a nonprofit, when a customer walks in the door we try hard to view them as a potential donor, program participant or volunteer for our organization, so being able to serve them in a really safe way where we are respectful of their payment information and their privacy in that way makes a lot of sense.”

Not only has the ability to accept chip card payments opened Maluk’s eyes to the rising number of customers who are actively using chip cards, but it’s also revealed an ongoing need for education on how EMV works and on the benefits it can offer.

A recent study shows that even with the deadline quickly approaching, only about 20 percent of small business owners and managers are even aware of the October liability shift.

Not surprisingly, Maluk said Bike Works is actually an outlier in its South Seattle neighborhood, as it is one of the few places he has noticed that is actually able to process chip cards.

But facilitating EMV chip payments and ensuring a trusted and secure customer experience is crucial to the mission of Bike Works, which is why Maluk said the organization never hesitated when it came to considering a move to the EMV system.

“We are also recycling a large number of bikes in the Puget Sound area. We are keeping something like 100,000 pounds of metal out of landfills by keeping donated bikes on the road and distributing them to low-income youths and adults,” he explained.

“In our community bike shop where we are using the EMV system, that shop is an earned revenue source for the organization.”

Bike Works anticipates nearly 5,000 bikes will be donated to its organization this year. Additionally, through its job skills training program for youth as well as paid adult mechanics, it plans to refurbish and sell 1,200 bikes at affordable prices in its community.

Watch MasterCard’s EMV Case Study video for Bike Works below: