Raiffeisen Energie Nord is the first Raiffeisen company to offer payment by smartphone directly at the fuel pump. The Connected Fueling mobile payment platform from PACE makes this possible. Five questions to the Managing Director Moritz Heitmann of Raiffeisen Energie Nord and Klaus-Dietrich Gast, Head of Sales at PACE.
Conveniently pay from the car, without the hassle of rummaging for your mask and wallet, without waiting in line, without having to enter your PIN number; Raiffeisen Energie Nord GmbH is a Connected Fueling partner of the smart mobility provider PACE Telematics GmbH from Karlsruhe. As of now, customers can use the PACE Drive app to pay for gas from within their cars using all common mobile payment methods and, as of January, also with the digital fuel card from DKV.
The Managing Director of Raiffeisen Energie Nord, Moritz Heitmann, and the Head of Sales at PACE Telematics, Klaus-Dietrich Gast, answer five questions about paying at the pump.
It is already possible to pay without cash, and with Apple and Google Pay, contactless payment is also possible. What makes Connected Fueling different?
Moritz Heitmann: With Apple and Google Pay, customers still have to go to the cash register, even if they actually just want to fill up their car. Connected Fueling, on the other hand, makes it possible to pay directly at the pump. That means no mask, no waiting in line, and a digital receipt sent directly to the smartphone or via email.
How is it that Raiffeisen Energie Nord in particular has forged ahead like this and is the first in the Raiffeisen network in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to introduce this innovative solution with PACE?
Moritz Heitmann: Raiffeisen companies have existed for 170 years because they have always moved with the times, adapting and changing to meet the needs of their customers. Raiffeisen Energie Nord is one of the most progressive within this group. Digitization has arrived in every household–accelerated by the corona virus, so it would be negligent from a business perspective not to react to it.
With Oil-Fox, we introduced a smart solution for liquid fuel level monitoring years ago. This IoT (Internet of Things) solution brings benefits to our customers in terms of continuously controlling inventory and operational reliability, and for us it has the advantage that we can plan deliveries precisely. So it was only logical to improve the processes at the gas station as well. We are constantly driven by questions about the future: Does our analog fuel card alone have a future? What benefits can we offer our customers? How can we win over the younger generations as well? People today are used to paying quickly and easily via their smartphones, and we are meeting this need for convenience and security with Connected Fueling.
KD Gast: Making it as easy and convenient as possible for end customers is the key success factor today. Everyone has a smartphone in their hand, or at least within reach. It is a navigation system, a means of communication, an entertainment channel, a planning tool, and much more–so what could be more obvious than to use the smartphone for the digital management of refueling processes as well?
How long did it take to implement Connected Fueling at Raiffeisen Energie Nord?