Hy-vee gains flexibility in transaction payment processing
Hy-Vee, is an employee-owned grocery and drugstore chain with over 220 stores in seven Midwestern U.S. states. They live by a simple but powerful precept: “A Helpful Smile in Every Aisle.”
Unlike most retail enterprises, Hy-Vee is a highly decentralized corporation. Local store managers can tailor inventory, pricing, merchandising, displays and services to best serve their particular markets and deal with their individual competition.
“Hy-Vee was able to consider several alternatives for our in-house switch. After a thorough review process, we felt ACI offered superior products, industry experience and the right project resources to implement their solutions successfully. Choosing ACI has proved to be the right decision for Hy-Vee, and they continue to be a valued partner today.
John Briggs Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Hy-Vee
The challenge
With 220 supermarkets in seven Midwestern states, Hy-Vee recognized that its company had grown large enough to operate its own electronic payments for in-house authorization and processing of check, credit, debit, electronic benefits transfer (EBT) and gift card transactions. The company sought a software solution that would allow it to be more responsive to its business needs by meeting its current requirements and allowing the company to expand the system to meet future changes in the payments industry.
The solution
Hy-Vee chose several offerings from the ACI Payments Orchestration Platform. The ACI Payments Orchestration Platform offers a complete retail software solution that enabled Hy-Vee to bring electronic payment processing in house to reduce transaction costs and gain greater control over business relationships. The solution securely switches and routes customer payments and provides a fast, convenient and cost-effective method for processing various transactions. These include credit, debit, check, telephone, fleet, automated clearing house (ACH), electronic funds transfer (EFT), and business and purchasing transactions (regardless of the payment token) — magnetic stripe, chip, radio frequency identification (RFID), paper or even biometrics. The ACI Payments Orchestration Platform also supports EBT programs, including the U.S. Food Stamp and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) programs.
The results
Hy-Vee has realized several benefits since implementing the ACI Payments Orchestration Platform solution. First, the company is no longer dependent on a single processor, and in-house processing with the ACI Payments Orchestration Platform allows Hy-Vee to be fully in command of its business. The solution also allows Hy-Vee to maintain gift card data and control the quality of customer service and authorizes and processes card and check transactions quickly reducing the amount of time Hy-Vee customers spend in checkout queues.
By implementing a system to enable in-house processing, Hy-Vee has effectively minimized fraud risk and reduced transaction costs while maintaining its superior standard of customer service.
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