Cumberland Farms Builds Biometrics Into its Mobile App

For those on the East Coast who recognize the Cumberland Farms brand, pardon me while I explain to the rest of the world what it is. It’s a fairly substantial convenience store / gas station brand; so substantial, in fact, that it’s got its own mobile app. Recently, the mobile app got a bit of an upgrade as Cumberland Farms added biometric ID log-in capabilities to it, helping to better ensure user security.

Cumberland Farms’ mobile app, known as SmartPay, already offered plenty of noteworthy features, including functions specifically related to the convenience store side and others related to the gas station side. The biometric touch-ID process is just part of the recent improvements, however, as the app now features an enhanced store finder system as well.

Also, the app now offers a savings of $0.10 per gallon whenever paying for gas via the app, and the app can even track overall lifetime savings on several items. A connection to available special offers in store, fuel rewards progress, and store information rounds out the package. There are even certain freebies on hand for reaching purchasing milestones; a free coffee or fountain beverage for every 50 gallons of gas, for example.

Cumberland Farms’ senior vice president of marketing, Gwen Forman, noted “We have a very large and loyal SmartPay mobile app customer base, and we’re excited for them to upgrade to the newest version. When we launched the SmartPay program five years ago it was one of the most innovative programs of its kind, and remains as such today. The beauty of SmartPay Check-Link is its simplicity, and our new design further enhances that simplicity with an intuitive design.”

An easy-to-use app is great, but it has to be backed up with not only usability—if it doesn’t do something useful there’s no point to it—and, especially when money’s involved, security. A biometric sign-in on a gas station app may sound like overkill, but considering how many people likely use a credit card or mobile payment system to buy gas and snacks at Cumberland Farms locations every day, it may not be unreasonable.

The new Cumberland Farms app shores up the security factor here substantially, and that’s great news for anyone who stops there with any regularity.