News from the Wire

Piggly Wiggly Extends Pay By Touch Throughout the Southeast

Tuesday, January 18, 2005 — 18:05:43 (EST)

Pay By Touch users at Piggly Wiggly request the finger-payment system be available at more stores %%N%%NSAN FRANCISCO – (January 17, 2005)— Pay By Touch today announced that all Piggly Wiggly shoppers in South Carolina and Southeast Georgia will soon be able to pay for their groceries with the touch of a finger. After a positive consumer response to the new technology, Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co. is launching Pay By Touch companywide to all of its corporate-owned grocery stores by May 2005. %%N%%NSince July 2004, Piggly Wiggly customers in four South Carolina grocery stores have been using Pay By Touch to purchase groceries using a finger scan linked to their financial accounts. Customer research revealed that 50 percent of Piggly Wiggly’s Pay By Touch users are driven by the convenience of not having to present cards, checks, or their PFC/Greenbax rewards cards at the point of sale. And, when asked how Piggly Wiggly could improve its Pay By Touch offering, users wanted to see Pay By Touch in more stores. %%N%%N“Our customers embraced Pay By Touch during the pilot period because it is an easier and safer way to pay,” said Rich Farrell, vice president of information services at Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co. “After only five months in our Charleston, South Carolina locations, more Piggly Wiggly customers are using Pay By Touch Express Checking (ACH) than any one of the credit card products we accept. We listen to our shoppers, and Pay By Touch is what they want.” %%N%%NPay By Touch presented Piggly Wiggly shoppers with Express Checking (ACH), a new type of transaction that was introduced during the pilot. Express Checking is a direct electronic withdrawal from shoppers’ bank accounts. Express Checking is convenient for shoppers, and helps Piggly Wiggly reduce costs associated with transaction fees. Express Checking will be the featured way to pay during the companywide rollout. %%N%%N“We’re thrilled about the success Piggly Wiggly has had with Pay By Touch,” said John Rogers, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Pay By Touch. “We believe 2005 will be a big year for consumer biometric payments across the country, and Piggly Wiggly is leading the movement toward a new way for shoppers to pay. The impressive customer adoption rates we’ve seen already will continue to increase as we add more and more retailers to our network.” %%N%%NThe one-time Pay By Touch enrollment is simple and takes just a couple of minutes. Shoppers can begin the enrollment process online at www.paybytouch.com, or they can do it in-store. Once enrolled – no matter what store or part of the country they are in – customers simply scan their finger and select a preferred payment method every time they pay. Pay By Touch can be found in stores across the country. %%N%%NThrough its partnership with IBM, Pay By Touch guarantees that customers’ electronic wallets and financial accounts are stored in highly secure IBM data centers. The partnership also played a part in Piggly Wiggly’s selection of IBM as its provider of choice for implementing Pay By Touch in all of its grocery store locations. %%N%%NThe Pay By Touch finger scanning technology does not store actual fingerprints; instead, it creates a set of 40 data points that cannot be reverse engineered into a fingerprint. The data points are then encrypted and converted into a mathematical equation that allows for a secure identity match at retail point of sale. %%N%%NIn addition to implementing Pay By Touch in Piggly Wiggly stores throughout the country, Pay By Touch is planning additional rollouts in other national retail chains later this year. %%N%%NAbout Pay By Touch %%NPay By Touch, which is free to consumers, is a new payment service that allows shoppers to pay for purchases or cash checks using a finger scan linked to their financial accounts and loyalty programs. With Pay By Touch, the checkout process is faster, more convenient, and more secure than other payment methods. It eliminates the need to present checks and IDs, credit, debit, membership, or loyalty cards at the point of sale. Pay By Touch offers retailers a complete payment solution from front-end biometric authentication to back-end ACH and credit card payment processing. For additional information, visit www.paybytouch.com. %%N%%NAbout Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co. %%NPiggly Wiggly Carolina Company is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina. It was founded in 1947 and today is the largest employee-owned, privately operated retail company in South Carolina. Piggly Wiggly includes 120 stores and more than 5,000 employees throughout South Carolina and southeast Georgia. For additional information, visit www.thepig.net. %%N%%NSource: Company Press Release

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Source: Company press release.