The mobility services of the future require innovative payments

Digitisation has caused the mobility market to undergo profound changes. Users expect smarter personal mobility solutions. Why can't we pay for petrol and diesel the same way we do for EVs right at the charge point?

Simple payments straight in the providers’ app are one of the key aspects of excellent user friendliness. This gives customers a seamless user experience with no media discontinuity and also offers a few benefits for station operators. For example, less cash in the till lowers the risk of theft and improves employee safety. Additionally, reliable payment processing allows them to cut personnel costs and sell fuel round the clock without having to increase the amount of staff. While oil companies are discovering the advantages of app services for themselves, major car manufacturers are already pressing on with the next innovation: drivers will soon be able to pay to fill up from inside the car with in-car payments.

Innovative payments drive the success of mobility apps

These solutions depend on smart, established payments that complete processes efficiently and are intuitive to use. Providers should avoid isolated solutions so that all drivers are able to profit from the vehicle’s smart services.

One such solution that is aimed at a large target group is giropay, payment method of the German banks and savings banks and a free current account feature. Providers such as easyPark, PACE, clevertanken and Compleo Charging Solutions AG already rely on the online payment. Every user has an account with a German bank or savings bank and undergoes its verification and KYC processes. This is ideal for autonomous payments where the risks of money laundering and fraud are high. Around 7.5 million users are currently using this payment method at more than 27,000 online shops and other providers. giropay appeals to a broad user base with around 1,500 participating banks and savings banks. Alongside this unique position in the German market, giropay provides lots of important features that enable in-app and in-car payments and optimise payment processing.

oneKlick – seamless mobile payment

If you want your customers to pay at the pump quickly and then drive off without delay, oneKlick is the solution for you - users can touch a single button to authorise payments in the app. To do so, they first need to add giropay as a payment method in the app. Future payments can then be authorised with a single click. Users do not have to log back in or leave the provider’s app.

It is also advantageous for operators of stations in a number of ways. For one, the excellent user friendliness lowers the number of cancelled payments. It also provides them with an instant guarantee of payment. This avoids payment problems and, in turn, a lot of time and money having to be invested in credit management further down the line. This allows providers to optimise their liquidity. What’s more, gross amounts are paid without the kind of security deposit commonly seen in other payments. This is why the efficiency of giropay is unrivalled when it comes to micro-payments too, making it ideal for use in car washes, for example, where amounts frequently come to less than 10 euros. And thanks to pre-authorisation, it’s even easy to operate round the clock without staff.

Only the question of integration remains, yet the answer is simple: directly via a REST API or a payment service provider. We would prefer to speak to you about it in person, though: giropay will be at the UNITI expo from 17 to 19 May 2022 along with experts from GIZS of the German Savings Banks Finance Group, also known as the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe. The team is looking forward to seeing you at booth 1B34 in hall 1.