Future of Payments at Metro Petroleum

As one of the largest independent service station franchise chains in the Australian fuel industry, Metro Petroleum takes a long-term view of its business.

"What we're trying to do is change our customers' view of what a service station is and what it can be," says Elie Dib, National Sales and Retail Manager.

A couple of ways that Metro Petroleum chose to enhance the customer experience was by partnering with Cold Rock Ice Creamery and Mr Whippy to provide a unique in-store experience.

"The introduction of Mr Whippy was such a great success that we acquired the brand Australia-wide," says Elie.

To prime the pumps for future growth, they also started looking for new payments partner.

Being able to process transactions quickly is crucial for high-traffic businesses like Metro. Customers at service stations typically have other places to be and prefer to avoid waiting in queues any longer than necessary.

To enhance their customers’ payment experiences with an eye to the future, Metro looked at a range of different payment partners before choosing Till.

Accelerating customer payments

Metro was particularly impressed by how quickly and effortlessly customers could process payments at the point of sale. The payment terminals offer speedy processing and a variety of payment options to cater to the preferences of Metro's customers.

"Our customers are the heart of our business," says Elie, "Without them, we don't have a business, so Till offering fast payment is very important for us because consumers want to be in and out of our stores as quickly as they can."

Consumers don’t see individual franchisees – they see a brand. They expect the same consistent, high-quality experience from every franchisee at every outlet.

While often invisible, payment systems are critical to a consistent customer experience.

Till's products allowed Metro Petroleum to streamline its payments system, improving the experience for customers and staff with seamless consistency across every outlet.

Easy integration

For Elie and Metro Petroleum, Till's ability to integrate seamlessly with hundreds of other payment technologies and business systems was also a significant plus. For Metro Petroleum, one of the most important was Motorpass, a fuel payment card used by fleets.

"Integration with Motorpass allowed us to go from multiple terminals in every franchise to one terminal, eliminating confusion for our franchisees."

Fixing a disconnect

Before Metro Petroleum adopted Till, another challenge on the payment front was a need for more connection between individual franchises and head office, which made the transfer of daily payment data and reporting slow and laborious.

“The biggest issue we had before joining up with Till was no relationship between personnel (at the service station level) and head office," says Elie.

This lack of connection and inefficient data sharing also complicated other payment-related tasks, such as processing chargebacks where necessary.

Achieving total visibility

With Till, Metro Petroleum's head office now has access to payment data from every Metro Petroleum location in near real-time, allowing head office to monitor the business much more closely, track sales and trading patterns, and glean powerful insights which have helped Metro Petroleum to refine their business processes.

Cash flow optimised with same-day funding

While most payment processing services stick to a standard of three to five working days, Till offers Same Day Settlements that allow franchisees to receive money sooner and be cashflow positive.

Both individual Metro franchisees and head office financial decision-makers benefit from the improved cash flow offered by Same Day Settlements, which enables them to budget strategically and allocate funds to make improvements and drive business growth.

"I think one of the main commercial benefits of the relationship between Till and Metro is the same-day funding."

Fuelling future growth

“It's amazing to think about how the service station business might develop in the future,” says Elie. "We started 40 years ago with no convenience store, then we moved to little convenience stores and then to the mini supermarkets you see today. Maybe we'll end up with hairdressing salons so you can have a haircut while you charge your car. We just don't know.”

Metro has evolved its business over decades, and firmly believes that Till is a payments provider that can evolve with them.

“We’ve found that Till is the perfect partner, forever changing to meet our needs in terms of the integration with Motorpass, as well as the relationship we’ve built together on a head office basis.”

"Till goes above and beyond. As the market continues to change, their rates also change, and they look to support our business however, and wherever, they can.”

Ready for a payments transformation?

Are you running and growing a franchise network? Till can create or improve payment integration for your existing merchants – with all the added value Till brings to the table, from automation to flexible fees to accepting any payment method with speed and security.

If you're ready to speed up your payments processes and enhance your customer experiences, get in touch with our friendly people via https://tillpayments.com/contact-us.