Esso is rolling out its mobile payments app across the UK, allowing users to pay for fuel at the pump and collect Tesco Clubcard points in the process.
Some 70 Esso-branded service stations are now accepting the new payment method, which is available on iOS and Android platforms. Each week, additional sites will be added to the network of locations offering the service.
Users of the technology can drive up to an Esso fuel pump, open the smartphone app from their vehicle, select the pump number and authorise payment, before filling up their fuel tanks. When the customer puts the nozzle back on the pump, the app confirms the amount paid and automatically emails them a digital receipt.
Using cloud-based technology, Esso’s system promises quick and secure transactions that are easy to authorise. Customers who register their Tesco Clubcard on the app will be automatically credited with loyalty scheme points for their purchase at participating sites.
Christopher Smith, mobile payment and loyalty manager for Esso, commented: “Esso is committed to providing our customers with the best possible experience at our stations, and the app has been designed to save time as you don’t need to queue to pay, yet you can still accumulate Clubcard points.”
Esso is offering additional incentives to use the app, allowing customers to earn 400 bonus Clubcard points – half of those after their first mobile app payment of at least 30 litres and the remainder after their fifth transaction of the same level.
Users of the app have access to a ‘Fuel Finder’ function which allows them to identify nearby Esso sites offering the mobile payment capability, and receive driving directions to those locations.
There have been various retail technology innovations announced by fuel brands in recent months, with Shell piloting its ‘fuel-to-you’ offer, called ‘Tap Up’. The service allows the company’s mobile app customers to request Shell to travel to them to fuel their car.
First tested in the Netherlands, the service also offers potential options to add a bag of groceries to the order, and there are plans to roll out the platform globally.