Leading forecourt retail specialist Suresite Group has recently partnered with payment solutions provider Vianet, propelling them into the growing ‘unattended’ contactless payments industry.
The rise in popularity of unattended card transactions across a variety of settings is expected to surge, as consumer confidence and adoption of contactless payments continues to climb: Juniper Research’s latest Contactless Payments research predicts contactless transactions will grow 130% globally in the next five years, taking the market size from its current $4.7tn to $11tn in 2027. For merchants in the unattended space, this brings to the table an attractive prospect of ‘more-sales-less-cost’ and highly compliant payment options.
The partnership sees Suresite Group’s market-leading acquiring services join forces with Vianet’s contactless payment solution hardware (pictured). The result is a competitive, user-friendly and highly secure payments solution able to futureproof any unattended or automated retail business, from charging points and unmanned car washes to air and vac stations.
Crucially for the forecourt retail specialist, the new solution will allow Suresite Group to not only offer its existing customer base even more payment options with the ability to accept payment via contactless devices at any unattended site, but also penetrate new sectors such as vending.
Nick Horne, sales and commercial director at Suresite, explains the strategy behind the move: “As the fuel industry evolves and fuel prices continue to soar, we’re seeing a resurgence in consumer demand for electric vehicles and with it a slow but sure shift from fuel to electric. Typically, dispensing electricity is lower risk than petrol or diesel, making it ideal for unattended contactless payment.
“Our strategy at Suresite is to continually innovate, introducing more and more hardware options to our customer base. The partnership with Vianet will allow us to grow our presence outside of the fuel industry, yet leverage those existing customer relationships in the forecourt sector – which alongside charging points, also opens up opportunities with unmanned car washes, jet washes and air and vac stations.”
Alongside existing opportunities in the forecourt sector, the partnership will also open the door for expansion into new sectors for Suresite, who have already signed vending contracts with facilities management companies, as well as contracts with car wash companies.
“At Vianet, as well as vending machines and car washes, we’re seeing more demand for unattended contactless payments being applied to the likes of pool tables, ticket machines, arcade games, jukeboxes, photobooths, laundromats, golf ball dispensing in driving ranges and much more,” says Craig Brocklehurst, Chief Operating Officer at Vianet.
“Enabled through the Internet of Things (IoT), our innovative payment solutions offer many benefits for both the merchant and end user. The usability of the device – which is easy to interact with, hygienic, and convenient – is the main benefit from a cardholder’s perspective. From the merchant perspective, contactless payment solutions in general enable operators to maximise sales and reduce costs, but our hardware specifically is PCI level 1 compliant, making it highly secure, transaction fees are competitive, and it also has the capabilities to advertise other services on it. Unique to the market, if the merchant has coffee and donuts available in store, for example, they can advertise this to their car wash customers whilst they’re sitting in their car, either on the device itself or from a wireless 4K stream to a local TV.”
