The Strawhecker Group, an electronic payments advisory firm, estimates that the payment processors are on track to have more than 90% of their merchants EMV-ready by 2017 or later. That represents almost 4 million retailers.
Information from some of the nation’s top retailers confirms the data. The Walgreen Company began transitioning drug stores to the new EMV technology more than three years ago when it installed new point-of-sale terminals. The upgrade involved about 60,000 POS terminals in 8,200 Walgreens stores.