Tom Highland has introduced pay at pump at his family forecourt business for the first time, as he investigates going unmanned out of hours and using the technology to stop drive-offs.
Half of the four islands and eight pumps at the Highland Group’s St Neots forecourt in Cambridgeshire allow customers to choose whether to pay at the pump or in the store, and Highland says that he has been “pleasantly surprised” by how frequently pay at pump is being used.
The day after going live with the equipment on Wednesday June 4, some 50 transactions went through the outside payment terminals (OPTs) – representing around 8% of sales. “There are so many benefits,” says Highland who installed Gilbarco SK700 fuel dispensers as part of a major upgrade of the forecourt and shop.
A significant advantage of offering the choice of how to pay, he says, is that customers in a hurry do not get held up by other customers using the busy ‘Highlands & Co-op’ fascia store, which has recently been expanded to three times its original size of 400sq ft, and to include a serve-over bakery food to go counter.
But most importantly, Highland says he is looking at the possibility of using pay at pump to take the site 24-hours – extending its current opening times of 6am to 10pm. This will not only boost trade, he believes, but act as a deterrent to break-ins, with customers on site and a required CCTV monitoring service watching over things.
He is currently liaising with the local petroleum officer to establish exactly what is required, such as installing an emergency cabinet with a customer phone, sand bucket and overalls, in case of an accident on site.
“Going 24-hours would mean a bit of extra trade, and also will provide us with free security. People will be less likely to break into the shop with activity on the forecourt,” says Highland.
As the days get darker and drive-offs tend to become more of an issue, Highland may also switch the pumps with payment capacity to be pay at pump only. He positioned the OPTs deliberately near to the roadside; the pumps easiest to escape without paying for the fuel.
“We’re in a nice area, but we can still get maybe one or two drive-offs at this site a week – worth easily up to £100,” says Highland.
“There is an element that shop sales might suffer a bit from introducing pay at pump,” says Highland. “But at the same time we expect an increase in fuel sales from people who really like outside payment terminals.”
In fact, after Highland posted a TikTok about pay at pump being introduced at St Neots, one customer told him, it was “honestly something that will make me decide to go somewhere over another, just so much quicker to fill up and go.”
Now that pay at pump is in place the last stage of the St Neots upgrade is almost complete. It just leaves a new Adriateh rollover and single jet wash bay due to be installed by the end of June.
