South Africa’s iconic Table Mountain, which is recognised as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature and internationally acclaimed as a top tourist experience, has a fast-moving food and beverage (F&B) environment.
Approximately 1.2-million transactions per annum take place — this is made up of card and cash payments by local and international tourists who eat and drink as part of their Table Mountain experience.
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Given the high volumes of visitors, the key priority for the F&B division at Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company is to ensure that payment transactions are quick and easy in order to minimize queues and ensure a smooth flow of visitors — and a world-class customer experience.
Eugene Labuschagne, Table Mountain Cableway’s Food and Beverage manager says tourists don’t want unnecessary hold ups — they want an incredible Table Mountain experience all round.
“We found that increasingly, slow transaction speeds of processing payment verifications and transactions was causing lengthy downtime periods and presented us with a major challenge as this impacted negatively on business and on customer throughput,” says Labuschagne.
Last year the F&B department decided that it was critical to overcome these card payment challenges before the onset of the peak tourist season in December 2017.
“We were attracted to Sureswipe’s Integrated Payment and POS solution for many reasons. They are an independent card service provider. They promised us quick turnaround times and support; and also had the capability to handle Tap & Go contactless payment transactions.”
On the 1st December 2017, as the festive season rush began, the Sureswipe team arrived at the Cableway at 6am and swopped over to the Sureswipe system. The system was up and transacting in a couple of hours.
The Cableway’s IT department was on standby, but in the end, they had very little to do, except support the Sureswipe team. The systems integration with Sureswipe and the existing Micros POS was seamless.
Sureswipe’s Integrated Payment solution at Table Mountain Cableway comprises twelve Point-of-Sale devices, situated across the Wi-Fi lounge, Cafe and Terrace Bar. They all integrate seamlessly to the backend Micros POS.
Labuschagne says they have not experienced any downtime since inception.
“The Tap & Go system is fast — transactions take less than a second. Our contactless payments have increased from 20% to 27% in less than five months, which shows us that the use of this technology can help to improve the visitor experience. We expect it to become a large part of the business.”
“Contactless payments also appeal to visitors because of the reduced security risks as they don’t have to hand over their cards,” further explains Labuschagne.
“The benefits of Sureswipe’s Integrated Payment solutions are multiple and include far fewer breakdowns and downtime, which means our managers can get on with their core business of keeping Cableway visitors happy instead of sorting out payment transaction failures,” he adds.
“Instantaneous Tap & Go expedites queues while fast, smooth and seamless transactions not only enhance the customer experience but impact positively on the accuracy and efficiency of our accounting system. In addition, a great bonus for our accounting team was that Sureswipe customised the reporting system to suit all their needs,” says Labuschagne.
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