Maximising ancillary revenue opportunities
London, 29 June 2018 TouchStar On-Board Retail, a market leader in On-Board Retail IT solutions and STS, a payments acceptance software specialist, have today announced a new strategic partnership that will deliver an improved payments acceptance capability for airlines, train companies and bus operators. With an impressive 50 years combined track record of delivering high quality IT solutions and client service excellence, merchants will now be able to benefit from an enhanced consumer payments experience. The joint solution will ensure ancillary revenue opportunities are maximised at the same time as introducing new payment options and strengthening data security protection levels.
As part of the partnership, STS’s advanced G8 payments application, that separates payments processing logic from a point of sale application, has been integrated to the TouchStar NovoStar product suite. The NovoStar POS application has more than 5,000 deployments around the world and relied on by many international airlines.
“Today, consumers are looking for increased choice on how and where they can pay for goods and services and businesses are needing to boost ancillary revenue streams ” said Patrick Clark, General Manager of TouchStar’s On-Board division. “Payment processing has become an increasingly complex field that is why we are delighted to be partnering with such a highly respected payments specialist as STS.”
“Accepting payments on board a plane, train or bus brings many new challenges not faced by high street retailers” said Steve Turner, CEO of STS “These relate to infrastructure, communication and resilience issues as well as bespoke functionality. Off-line PIN verification, transaction batch support, remote device management and international aspects related to multi country, currency and language all have to be delivered.”
Generating ancillary revenue has become a high priority for transportation companies, particularly airlines, as low cost operators and new competitors have entered markets. The top 10 airlines globally generated $28 billion in ancillary revenue in 2016 an increase of 1233% over the last ten years. Investment in new payment systems has therefore become a priority in order to tap into this market opportunity and contribute enhanced financial returns. The joint TouchStar STS solution allows businesses to accept payments whenever, wherever or however required.
About STS
STS is a leading payments acceptance application developer with unrivalled EMV expertise. Although the company is based in the UK, we have supplied over 150,000 merchant implementations located around the world across multiple industry sectors. We offer merchants independence from payment schemes, acquirers, gateways, PSPs and device manufacturers, thereby generating financial savings and maximising their payments flexibility and future choices.
We are a product-led company that invests heavily in developing high-quality payments acceptance applications and features in order to remain at the forefront of payments innovation. This started with EMV Chip and PIN payments in which we became a global market leader and now includes contactless, in-store mobile payments, payment cloud implementations and the management of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Our applications are designed to allow partners to establish competitive advantage. We have earned a reputation for trust, honesty and integrity by continually delivering high quality software and excellent support throughout our 20-year heritage.
About TouchStar On-Board Retail
TouchStar were the first company to deliver a complete computerised on-board Point of Sale solution back in 1985.
Built from the ground up and utilising the experience gained from over 35 years within the industry, the NovoStar product suite is the leading independent on-board retail solution for the Airline sector.
“NovoStar” provides the airline industry with a software suite that facilitates the sales of inflight duty-free, catering and ancillary products. . Streamlining inflight operations whatever the connectivity, TouchStar have the technology that makes on-board selling a fast, easy and personalised experience.
Contact details:
Bing Dai, Senior Channel Manager, STS
+44 (0)20 8680 0252
bing.dai@stspayments.com
Gordon Hyland - Sales Manager, TouchStar On-Board Retail
+44 (0)7785 352632