Serghei Fraseniuc: We can cover any payment need of a client, from any field
Serghei Fraseniuc: We can cover any payment need of a client, from any field
EasyPay Group, which is 11 years old today – manufactures, sells and takes care of the maintenance part of payment terminals to create a complete business cycle. Currently, EasyPay ranks number 1 in the production of payment terminals, but it also manages the most profitable network in Romania. Serghei Fraseniuc, founder of EasyPay Group, sets ambitious goals – in the next 5 years to become – No. 1 in Europe among manufacturers of cash-in and cash-out payment systems. About how the history of a Ukrainian born in Chisinau began in Bucharest, the betting market and ambitions – read in the interview below.
We hear about EasyPay System all the time, but now we have the opportunity to know more…
When we talk about EasyPay, we are actually talking about a group of companies, each with a separate activity, but closely related to each other.
The parent company, the first to be established 11 years ago, is EasyPay System which operates its own network of over 800 self-service terminals located in the market, nationwide. A business extremely developed in other countries at that time, which, however, in Romania started extremely timidly, people not being familiar with these self-service payment systems which today have gained considerable momentum, customers understanding the ease with which they can use but also its benefits.
The self-service payment terminal has also found its place in gaming rooms, with profile customers using it especially for pre-pay and pay-save card top-ups, but also for more than 140 other services covering almost all areas of payment.
What additional solutions do you offer gambling halls, besides betting terminals?
By placing a payment terminal in the gaming rooms we can increase sales. Thus the customer does not leave the gaming room to make a few additional payments. We now offer symbiosis solutions between a sports betting terminal and a payment terminal. This is the know-how we are preparing for the Romanian market and not only. Another additional service for these halls is the location of crypto-currency terminals.
At the same time, as a company we do not only focus on the market of sports betting and self-service payments. We have many other solutions in our portfolio that are worth mentioning. Among them are: solutions for the HoReCa field, money deposit and transfer, terminals for paying parking, insurance, currency exchange, paying for fuel at PECO stations, purchasing tickets and subscriptions for public transport and many others.
All this, through self-service terminals operated directly by the user without the need for the intervention of an operator.
Serghei Fraseniuc: We can cover any payment need of a client, from any field
So can we say that EasyPay has a payment solution for any domain?
We can support the fact that as a manufacturer and with strategic partnerships, we can cover any payment need of a customer, from any field.
Let’s talk about that shy start you mentioned earlier. Who was Serghei Fraseniuc at that time and how did you start this business?
In 2006, Romania seemed to me at that time to be a good opportunity and the country in which I want to develop. Through many trials and searches, I ended up playing in a Romanian basketball team with which I went to training camps.
$100 a month and a pretty nice dorm was what I was offered as a basketball player.
Although I say that at that time the market was only in its infancy, when I arrived in Bucharest I could not be called timid. In the first month, I set myself the goal of meeting 100 Russian-speaking entrepreneurs from various fields for a possible collaboration, and I found them. Their contacts were entered into an excel, I started talking with each of them to finally find a parallel job.
I worked for a while at a factory bought by the Russians Laminorul Brăila, later I had to go to Moscow. There I worked at a company similar to the one in Brăila, where I was able to grasp the complexity of the industry.
I returned to Bucharest driven by the desire to open my own business. I bought the first 50 payment terminals. In the beginning, the first 3 years I did not make a profit. I personally dealt with the placement, modification of the terminals and the receipts part.
In a room of 20 square meters, together with the first and only employee, I assembled the first self-service terminal. If in 2014 we were selling 100 terminals per year, in recent years we have been selling around 2000 terminals, this makes me extremely happy.
Currently EasyPay consists of a group of 4 companies, the first established operating its own network of payment terminals, followed by EasyPay Production which produces self-service terminals for all payment domains. Adjacent follows Easy Technix, which covers the warranty and maintenance of its own terminals and those launched on the market. Because in the pandemic we chose to be brave and invest when the whole market froze, RiverBet is the company we continue to develop after last year we acquired the betting part of RiverBet. Currently operating a number of 350 terminals.
Serghei Fraseniuc: We can cover any payment need of a client, from any field
What is your attitude towards the competition?
Competition makes the business more interesting and efficient, and it is what drives the founder, the business to improve its work processes and to offer qualitative and not quantitative products.
So my focus in business is on the customer, their needs, pains and expectations, and so we change based on that understanding.
When we talk about customer service, we cannot neglect the corporate culture, which in this case plays an overwhelming role. Its lack will “eat” any well-planned strategy.
The main objective of the EasyPay group remains to always offer the best ratio between quality and price, the shortest delivery time, relying on internal stocks and satisfied customers who, in the end, give us the best recommendations.
Taking into account the fact that the EasyPay group has grown gradually, constantly investing in the team and development, I am sure that we will be able to fulfill our plans to expand our sales to other countries that we have not yet accessed, but also to increase the network of terminals.
Speaking of customer service – EasyPay is twice the Sports Betting Terminal winner in a row, once in 2019 and once the very year the pandemic hit. How did you manage to get this position?
Of course, I am primarily extremely proud to hold this position in such a changing market, but the value for money and the excellent service that my team provides to its clients, is the basis of this performance. We occupy the place that we have no intention of vacating anytime soon.
Every year we continue to invest, develop by always being one step ahead of the market and offering a complete package of services starting from an open discussion and ending with the design and assembly of the final turnkey product.
We aim for the terminals to have a maximum lifespan, to function properly, so that the client does not have a headache from all these processes, being concerned only with assimilating the profit that our technical solutions bring.
How did you feel this pandemic year when many businesses did not survive?
Regarding the pandemic year, of course we were also affected to some extent, but by choosing our partners strategically, together we understood that it is only a matter of time until the situation will be unblocked, and the needs will come as a boom for which we must be prepared. So we can say that we worked in advance for a period in which we trusted that it would come, and now we feel the results.
What are the plans for the future?
In the sport I’ve played for years, basketball – there’s no tie, there’s always a winner. In business as in sports, there is no equality. The goal of a team in any sport/business is to win. In business, the founder always tends to be the best, to make a significant profit, to keep customers loyal and to be much better than the competitor.
At least I don’t believe in equality, I’m always for a fight (fair of course), where one wins and the other loses. This is how competition generates results that “move” progress.
Business is for winners and the determined. Business involves pushing boundaries and having a lot of confidence in what you do. This is why, the goal I set before myself and the whole team is a simple one – to become No. 1 in Europe. This thought makes me work much harder and harder. What kind of athlete are you if you settle for anything other than first place?
Serghei Fraseniuc: We can cover any payment need of a client, from any field
EasyPay Systems leader on the payment terminal market.
■ For 11 years we have been delivering to the market:
■ Self-service payment terminals;
■ Betting terminals;
■ Solutions for the HoReCa field;
■ Deposit and transfer of money;
■ Terminals for parking and insurance payments;
■ Currency exchange;
■ Solutions for collecting payment for fuel in PECO stations;
■ Buying tickets and passes for public transport and more.
