Read and Pay

American Express Co. (New York) announced that it has begun issuing Blue from American Express cards with the ExpressPay feature in all 50 states. ExpressPay, a contactless chip for speeding up the payment process for retail transactions, will be embedded in all new Blue consumer and small business credit cards moving forward.

The Company has also announced 7-Eleven Inc. (Dallas) as the latest national merchant partner to accept ExpressPay. 7-Eleven currently has ExpressPay-enabled readers in 170 stores in a test market and plans a full roll out to its more than 5300 U.S. stores by early 2006.

ExpressPay consists of a secure computer chip powered by radio frequency technology. American Express says it is designed for purchases at locations where speed and convenience are important — such as convenience stores, quick-serve restaurants, supermarkets, drug stores and gas stations. Users hold the card next to a special reader at checkout to make purchases. Payment is authorized in seconds and no signature is required. The computer chip enables end-to-end transaction security. Blue from American Express also has a magnetic strip and functions as a traditional credit card.

American Express said it has been testing ExpressPay since 2002. The pilots involved many thousands of consumers making more than a million transactions at hundreds of merchant locations. Test results showed that, on average, ExpressPay transactions are 63 percent faster than using cash. Market research with pilot participants also confirmed that consumers view convenience and simplicity of use as two of the major benefits. Important merchant benefits include reduced transaction time and increased spending relative to cash.

Yesterday, 7-Eleven announced a similar arrangement with MasterCard Inc. (Purchase, N.Y.), a contactless payment option using radio frequency (RF) technology called MasterCard PayPass.