EL PASO, Texas -- Circle K has deployed 25 Info Touch Technologies Corp. ZapLink kiosks at select convenience stores in El Paso, Texas. Info Touch and Circle K offer cash-preferred customers secure and convenience access to bill payment and financial transactions at self-service automated kiosks, 24-hours-a-day.
These kiosks enable cash-preferred customers to securely access personal accounts and view balances on select billers without the need to have account number present. They can also pay a variety of bills including wireless, utility and cable [image-nocss] and update their accounts in real time. They make payments by inserting the cash directly into ZapLink kiosk's bill acceptor. Once the cash is accepted, the payment is immediately posted through Info Touch's TIO network.
Circle K customers can navigate through bill payment and other TIO applications in either English or Spanish and complete financial transactions by either printing or emailing their receipt to an email address of their choice.
Zaplink and the TIO Network is an important part of Circle K's strategy to empower our customers with convenient and hassle-free ways to pay bills and manage personal finances, according to Dan Stiel, manager of financial services for Circle K Stores Inc., Tempe, Ariz. Our customers in El Paso will discover our self-service Zaplink kiosks to be fast, friendly and reliable.
El Paso, Texas is a growing Latino community and market research indicates that nearly half of the Hispanics are unbanked and more than 78% of El Paso's population is Hispanic. This data confirms there is market demand for non-traditional financial solutions, said Hamed Shahbazi, chairman and CEO of Burnaby, B.C.-based Info Touch. By delivering convenient access to affordable financial services, we improve the quality of life for residents of El Paso, and execute on our recurring revenue transaction business.
Since September 2001, Info Touch and Circle K have deployed approximately 300 Zaplink kiosks in six statesArizona, Florida, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas. Both companies' objective is to not only grow the number of locations, but also the selection of billers and other financial services available, they said.
Circle K, which operates approximately 550 c-stores, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., Laval, Quebec, which has a network of 4,898 c-stores, 3,073 of which include motor fuel dispensing, located in eight large geographic markets, including three in Canada and five which cover 23 American states in the United States.
Info Touch, a strategic investment of Hewlett Packard, is building the TIO Network, a large, national multi-retailer network of financial services kiosks for the nonbanked consumer marketplace in North America. It leverages core competencies in self-service bill payment processing, financial services aggregation and automation to create financial viability for its network and its location partners. Info Touch's Premiere (powered by Surfnet) is a major software platform for the delivery of automated services such as bill payment, money transfer, digital merchandising, PIN dispensing for prepaid products and services, maps and directions, check cashing and electronic coupons.
Clients include Circle K, ExxonMobil, Alimentation Couche-Tard, Speedway SuperAmerica, Cricket Communications, COX Communications, Memphis Light Gas & Water and Qwest Communications. More than 700 locations and six top-tier corporate-owned c-store chains participate in the TIO Network, it said.Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.