Why Ritz Camera Decided to Adopt PayPass Throughout Its Chain

Ritz Camera Centers Inc., which last week announced it would adopt MasterCard's PayPass contactless card program chainwide, says it hopes to use the technology to hasten photo-finishing customers through the checkout process. “They're in the stores two or three time a week, and they want the service to be kind of quick,” says a spokesman for Ritz, a chain of 1,200 stores in 45 states. The Beltsville, Md.-based company sells high-end electronic gear, such as digital cameras and DVD recorders–not the sort of cash-intensive, high-throughput merchant seen as the most likely prospect to adopt contactless payment technology, which speeds card transactions by replacing swipes with radio signals sent from a card, key fob, or other device to a receiver linked to a point-of-sale terminal. But it turns out Ritz does a big business in quick-turnaround photo developing for both film and digital media, and is looking to PayPass to cut tender times by allowing customers to wave a card at a reader, eliminating the need to swipe the card and, under current MasterCard rules, to get a signature for transactions under $25. The spokesman refuses to say what percentage of sales comes from photo-finishing, but adds that some stores in the chain do nothing but develop and produce prints. “That's the whole other side of this business that's very important,” says the spokesman. Ritz expects to complete the rollout of PayPass, which will require the chain to install one radio-frequency receiver at the checkout counter in each store, by September of next year. “It's quite a significant undertaking,” the spokesman says. He adds the chain expects banks issuing PayPass-equipped cards to conduct major marketing for the technology to encourage customers to get the cards and use them. “There's some significant plans for marketing in some markets by the banks,” he says. In addition to Ritz stores, some 114 Boater's World Marine Centers, a chain owned by Ritz, will also accept PayPass. And last week, Regal Entertainment Group, an operator of movie theaters, said it would roll out PayPass nationally by summer. Customers will be able to use the technology to buy tickets and concessions. The Regal properties, which include Regal Cinemas, United Artists Theatres, and Edwards Theatres, embrace some 6,273 screens in 558 theaters across 40 states. Earlier, McDonald's Corp. and Sheetz Inc., a regional chain of convenience stores, agreed to adopt PayPass. Contactless technology has also been introduced by American Express Co., under the name ExpressPay, and Visa International recently announced it was introducing its own contactless platform in the U.S. (Digital Transactions News, March 1).