Sinclair Testing New Features for DinoPay App

SALT LAKE CITY — Mobile payment usage continues to gain consumer adoption, and is forecasted to grow tremendously. Business Insider Intelligence’s 2016 Mobile Payment Report projected mobile payment volume to rise by a compound annual growth rate of 80 percent, bringing mobile payments volume to $503 billion by 2020.

At Sinclair Oil Corp., based in Salt Lake City, the company is using P97 Networks Inc.’s PetroZone mobile commerce platform to allow Sinclair distributors to access the platform at more than 1,400 locations across 19 states.

Through Sinclair’s DinoPay app, consumers can locate and navigate Sinclair gas stations, start fuel purchases from their mobile phone, and receive location-specific digital offers.

“P97 is Sinclair’s mobile commerce provider. The smartphone app DinoPay helps consumers find Sinclair locations and, at trial locations, it offers the ability to pay with the smartphone app,” Russell Gibson, Sinclair's marketing manager, technical services, told Convenience Store News. “In the near future, we will offer push advertising to consumers when they pull into a location. Not all point-of-sale (POS) providers have completed their certifications for mobile yet.”

Sinclair is in the process of rolling mobile payment out to locations who have the right POS system in place. Many of these locations have been trialing it for six months or more, and are providing feedback to improve the app. They are also testing new features, Gibson noted.

PetroZone is both PCI and EMV compliant, and utilizes Microsoft Azure Cloud Services, with multi-factor authentication to secure cardholder data.

“I believe that RFID [radio-frequency identification] is on its way out, and near-field is not needed if the app has the ability to add Visa Checkout, Masterpass, Apple Pay or others as a method of payment in the app’s wallet,” Gibson said, explaining that this is how PetroZone works. “EMV is certainly coming, but mobile payment is generally more secure than even EMV, so the customer will appreciate this.”

Houston-based P97 Networks is also collaborating with Phillips 66, Conoco and 76 branded locations to offer Chase Pay mobile payment at participating stores, which the companies announced in August of last year. This partnership enables consumers to make purchases through the My Phillips 66, My 76 and My Conoco mobile apps.

“We are excited to work with Chase and P97 to accept Chase Pay at our branded sites, which will offer our customers a simplified fueling experience — one that will enable them to safely and expeditiously purchase our high-quality Phillips 66, Conoco and 76 gasoline on their mobile devices from the comfort of their vehicles,” stated Brian Mandell, global marketing president for Phillips 66. “This same convenience will allow customers to take advantage of our reward programs and promotions without having to swipe loyalty cards or use coupons at pumps and registers.”