There was an almost sixfold increase in three years in the number of payments for postal orders using the mobile application
The popularity of the iCsekk application and the mobile phone solutions for paying postal orders integrated at the partners of Magyar Posta is unbroken. Following the increase of previous years, the traffic of postal order payment through the mobile application increased by nearly 40 % in 2021, thus amply exceeding the limit of 10 million per year. Posta and Díjnet plans on introducing new cashless payment solutions in the future in order to satisfy today’s growing digital customer needs in the long run.
07 January 2022
The aim of the company group is to meet the needs of customers being at different levels of digital maturity when they pay their bills and postal orders. In order to do so, the company group provides the possibilities of payment in cash and by bank card, as well as using bill payment terminals at postal outlets and physical partner points. On the other hand, there is a possibility for customers with higher levels of digital maturity to pay their postal orders from home, using the mobile application, and to present and pay their bills electronically via the Díjnet system. The main goal of the group is to satisfy a wide range of customer needs and to help customers in the switchover to digital solutions, thus supporting nationwide digitisation processes.
The rate of using bank cards for paying postal orders at post offices is constantly increasing; it reached 34 % of all payments in December 2021. However, paper-based postal orders can be paid via mobile phone, regardless of location, even using the same bank card. With the help of the innovative iCsekk solution, customers – downloading the application to their phones – may pay their utility fees or make their municipality parking payments electronically after scanning the QR code on the paper-based payment order. In addition to the joint iCsekk application of Posta and Díjnet, this QR code service is also available integrated in some of the applications of the OTP Group, and other partners also show interest in the latter solution that makes postal order payment possible via ‘iCsekk API’.
This method of payment is spreading rapidly: the volume of postal orders paid through the mobile application has increased almost sixfold in the last three years. In the last year, the total traffic of the iCsekk application and postal order payments integrated into partner apps increased by about 40 %: thus, as a result of around 11 million payments, such transactions amounted to approximately HUF 110 billion.
iCsekk provides a unique customer experience for users: ‘you may pay your paper-based postal orders, view and settle your electronic bills redirected from dijnet.hu or top up your mobile balance within one application,’ highlighted Gergely Deé, CEO of Díjnet and Manager for Electronic Channels of Magyar Posta. The increase of the popularity of the iCsekk application can also be recognised among the customers of Díjnet: in 2021, 24 % more e-bills were paid electronically through this mobile app than in 2020.
However, as the use of the mobile application grows, the need for bill payment terminals providing fast postal order payments – the installation of which started in 2015 – is decreasing. The utilisation of terminals operating in grocery stores in particular is low. Therefore, Magyar Posta reduces the number of its payment terminals at these locations in January. At the same time, these devices will continue to operate at Government Windows, post offices and large shopping centres for bank card and cash payments.
Magyar Posta and Díjnet will continue to focus on the development of the iCsekk service and e-bill payments, and plan on introducing further digital solutions in the future. The company is committed to cashless payment solutions and sets the aim of satisfying today’s increasing digital customer needs with its digital services.
Magyar Posta Zrt.
