How Payment Innovation Will Shape Convenience Retail
A panel of industry experts gathered at RTC Europe to discuss the rapidly evolving payment landscape in Europe. With the rise of digital technologies, shifting consumer expectations, and regulatory changes, payment innovation is playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of convenience retail.
The discussion, hosted by Fabio Docci of Invenco, featured insights from Larissa Zell of Worldpay, Richard Campion from Visa, Alfredo Pietro Rodrigo of the European Payment Initiative (EPI), and Giel Leyssens from Worldline. Their perspectives highlighted the challenges and opportunities payment innovations bring to the sector.
The Changing Face of Payments: Consumer Expectations and Technology
Larissa Zell, Senior Vertical Strategy Manager at Worldpay, opened the conversation emphasizing the high stakes around customer experience. “Customers expect seamless, secure, and quick payments,” she said. Contactless payments via cards, mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay, and wearables such as smartwatches have become mainstream in Europe. Tokenization, the technology that replaces sensitive card information with secure “tokens”, underpins this transformation by enhancing security and convenience.
Richard Campion, Head of Fleet and Mobility for Europe at Visa, elaborated on how Visa leverages emerging technologies like tokenization and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance payment experiences. He shared that Visa now processes around 11 billion tokenized transactions, covering approximately 30% of their total transactions. He highlighted Visa’s recent launch of an AI-powered system that can embed payments within a customer’s digital journey, enabling seamless purchases tailored to individual preferences. Though still in its infancy, this innovation points toward a future where payments become increasingly integrated and automated.
European Collaboration and the Rise of New Payment Schemes
Alfredo Pietro Rodrigo introduced the European Payment Initiative (EPI), a pan-European payment scheme designed to foster competition and reduce reliance on international players like Visa and Mastercard. EPI has launched Wero, a mobile-native, tokenized payment method in Germany and Belgium. France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands are set to follow in 2026, together representing approximately 65% of Europe’s online transactions.
Alfredo emphasized that EPI supports a model in which the digital euro and Wero work together to reinforce European payments sovereignty. He noted that a Public-Private Partnership can be the right direction, provided there is a genuine commitment to making it work. As it stands today, the digital euro project creates overlap rather than partnership and does not yet reflect a true collaboration model. To move forward, roles must be clearly defined: Wero is an existing European payment infrastructure, hosting a payment scheme and covering everyday payment use cases, user experience and merchant acceptance, while the ECB should focus on issuing and guaranteeing the money. Without this clarity, confusion will persist and the digital euro risks duplicating what already exists instead of building on Europe’s existing payment infrastructures.
The Complexities and Opportunities of In-Car and EV Charging Payments
One of the most intriguing topics discussed was the emergence of in-car payments and EV charging, which are becoming increasingly relevant for convenience retailers and forecourts. Larissa Zell and Richard Campion highlighted the potential for vehicles equipped with stored payment credentials to pay automatically for fuel or charging.
Richard expressed optimism about “plug and charge” technology for EVs, where payments are seamlessly processed as soon as the vehicle connects to a charging station. However, he cautioned that full adoption requires alignment among car manufacturers, charging station operators, and payment providers. He noted, “Paying for an EV charge should be as simple as paying for a cup of coffee. We still have a way to go for this to become reality.”
Giel Leyssens of Worldline added that while Tesla’s model is a prime example of a superior charging payment experience, achieving such seamless integration universally remains challenging due to the need for cooperation among multiple stakeholders. In the meantime, contactless payments at charging stations and multi-use fleet cards are practical solutions that forecourts should support to meet evolving customer needs.
Value-Added Services: Loyalty, Identity, and Beyond
The panel also explored how payments are no longer just transactional moments but strategic touchpoints that can add value. Alfredo from EPI highlighted Wero’s innovation roadmap, including the integration of identity management services such as age verification, alongside loyalty programs and meal vouchers, directly into the payment flow. Larissa and Giel stressed the importance of creating a unified user experience across all channels, i.e. fuel pumps, convenience stores, EV chargers, and mobile apps, to capture valuable customer data and offer personalized incentives.
Giel encouraged retailers to leverage payment tokens to track customer journeys across multiple touchpoints, noting that retails can start to guide their customers. Such integration offers retailers opportunities to increase revenue and deepen customer relationships.
Preparing for a Payment-Driven Future
The panel at RTC Europe underscored that payment innovation is a cornerstone of the future convenience retail experience. From contactless and tokenized payments to AI-driven commerce and new European payment schemes, the landscape is complex but full of opportunity. Retailers and forecourts must partner closely with payment providers to navigate this evolving environment, ensuring seamless integration, enhanced security, and customer-centric solutions.
As Richard Campion aptly summarized, “Payments are complicated, but when combined with forecourt operations, they become even more complex. Collaboration across the ecosystem is key to delivering the right solutions.”
For convenience retail businesses ready to embrace innovation, the future is bright - and payment innovation will be at the heart of that transformation.
This blog reflects insights shared at RTC Europe by industry leaders Larissa Zell (Worldpay), Richard Campion (Visa), Alfredo Pietro Rodrigo (European Payment Initiative), and Giel Leyssens (Worldline).