Tartu, Estonia and Preston, UK – Suresite, the UK’s leading provider of forecourt payment technology, has entered into an agreement with Astro Baltics, a world leader in cross-business mobile payment and advanced forecourt control technology, to use Astro Baltic’s Cloudics mobile platform to power Suresite’s new PitStop platform.
The mobile payment platform will leverage the power of the proven Cloudics technology, already in use in Europe and North America, in order to bring a modern, reliable mobile experience to UK fuel retail.
The Cloudics platform already allows customers to pay for fuel, shop, order food, charge electric vehicles, and much more. That same technology will be available to retailers via Suresite’s new Pitstop, due for release soon.
PitStop uses Suresite’s innovative payments technology to negate any prolonged holding of pre-authorised funds. The app aims to clear these funds in a timely manner – meaning prompt transactions and less inconvenience to customers.
Benefits for retailers include connection to bespoke loyalty programmes; creating a database of customers available to market offers and upsell. Customer spending habits can be more easily analyzed, giving retailers an insight into spending peaks and troughs.
Retailers can also look to leverage the app to enable out of hours fuelling, maximizing on daily profits and reducing staff hours. Opportunity for business growth is boosted, with each element of the app available to numerous forecourt commercial outlets.
Additionally, thanks to GPS technology, the customer will know where the nearest fuel retailer is and will be able to pay from within their car without the need for unsightly QR codes.
“When looking to enhance our payments offering to our thousands of retail outlets, we knew we needed to look towards mobile technology,” said Nick Horne, Sales and Commercial Director, Suresite Group.
“Astro Baltics Cloudics platform was ideally placed to provide the engine to our app by providing a modern, secure solution while future-proofing us by already being ready for EV and more. As we grow our offering within our Connex marketplace, we believe Pitstop will be a prime feature of our customer’s forecourts.”
“At Astro Baltics, we had already engaged with many UK retailers who were excited by our Cloudics platform, but we knew that to provide an ideal experience, we needed a trusted partner in the UK,” said Gary Szendzielarz, International Business Development Director, Astro Baltics.
“Suresite’s name kept coming up time and again as a trusted partner to the UK’s biggest fuel retailers, already providing a range of high-quality services. Through our exclusive UK partnership, we will be able to grow our portfolio of services and provide UK retailers with the opportunity to give customers a better fuelling and retail experience.”
“Finding a partner in the UK was one thing, but finding one who wanted to perfect the payment experience for the customer was another,” said Taimar Kallari, CEO of Astro Baltics. “Through Suresite, we were able to ensure we had the right payment gateway and setup in place to ensure the perfect pay-at-pump experience for the end customer. We are excited to see this new relationship blossom.”
As part of this new partnership, Astro Baltics will also work with SureSite to introduce their new eOPT device to the UK market.
Designed to address the issue of card payment at the EV charger, the eOPT will be a low-cost device which can control up to ten charge-points from a single payment terminal, reducing the investment cost for charge-point operators.
SureSite will showcase the new PitStop app at APEA Live in Milton Keynes on the 16th of November. Make sure to stop by the stand to see it in action.
