A petrol station is a good business investment. But how do you get it right? With the help of technology, you can remove the guesswork from the process, improve efficiency and increase profit margins.
Recently, we launched the Pesapal Forecourt Management solution (PFMS) in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. The solution delivers integrated payments alongside monitoring and data tools. PFMS aims to give petrol station managers better visibility of the activities at the forecourt.
PFMS is a powerful solution by Pesapal that enables petrol station managers and owners to take control of all the activities around the forecourt. That is; the automation of payments, management of price boards, RFID tagging of pump attendants, and remote access to sales reports.
Every petrol station owner/manager can attest that they operate in a space with limited possibilities for differentiations between one station and the other. Thus, to compete effectively in the petroleum industry, one needs to simplify the process for smooth operations and keep customers returning for fueling. Embracing change and seizing new technologies is the only way that petrol stations stand out from the competition, and generate more revenue.
PFMS is an ideal solution for business owners running large, medium, and small petrol stations. It enables them to streamline business operations at the forecourt and accept mobile money and card payments on one device.
When it comes to selling fuel, every penny counts. With tight margins, instances of fuel loss can significantly impact profits the longer they are left unnoticed. The Pesapal Forecourt Management Solution helps you monitor the cycle of your fuel as it is delivered to the site, stored underground, and dispensed into vehicles. To pull the plug on fraud, the PFMS ensures business owners stay abreast and don't lose revenue. PFMS uses RFID technology that records the attendant's activity at the pump, which helps to know the cash, mobile money, and card payments each attendant made.
Card payments in the fuel sector in Africa is expected to grow by 5.1% between 2021-2026 and to reach $1.2 billion during the same period. This has been attributed to hassle-free, secure cashless payment and an increased number of fleet owners using cards to make payments. Pesapal has ensured business owners don’t miss out on this revenue by enabling them to accept card and mobile money payments on the Pesapal Sabi POS machine.
Manual reconciliation is tiresome and time-consuming, especially in the fuel industry, where they receive different modes of payment. Effective reconciliation also helps detect fraud and gives a clear picture of the business's performance. The PFMS comes with a dashboard that enables business owners to access transactions, pull separate mobile money and card reports, and reconcile them easily at any time.
Running a business remains one of the most exhausting and rewarding ventures a person can undertake. It becomes more challenging when processes are not streamlined, and one spends a lot of time doing simple tasks. However, the PFMS solution removes most of the manual activities, making the process of managing the station as flawless as possible.
Building a fuel loyalty system is something that almost every petrol station manager has in mind. Drivers tend to be loyal to one station where they keep on fueling. Having a loyalty reward program may be a strong defense against losing customers to aggressive competitors. Pesapal FMS allows for a flexible mechanism of the creation of loyalty programs and discount policies with a large selection of schemes and parameters. This is made possible by onboarding fueling customers onto the PFMS and issuing them with RFID-enabled cards with unique identification. Thereafter, every time they fuel at the station, the volume consumed, and the amount paid is captured and the corresponding reward is allocated. The reward can either be cash back or points accrued per liter. The customer can then access the reward via our Pesapal mobile application.
