For now, Croats use text messages to pay for parking fees, self-service car wash, automated children toys, etc.
After the self-service car wash, the text message payment system has now been introduced by a company that manages automated children's toys – little cars, planes and motorcycles which are strategically located around shops and malls. In the past, users had to pay with coins, reports Poslovni.hr on July 6, 2016.
Mladen Amidžić, the CEO of Trilix, a subsidiary of the largest Croatian software exporter Span, which specializes in text message payments related to vending machines, says that this is a remarkable trend. “I expect that in the coming period more companies like Semper Tehnika and Eluxi will appear. They are developing their solutions to control various machines and toys for children, and they are connecting mobile operators with the payment system", says Amidžić.
Zagreb-based Eluxio company, which operates hundreds of automated toys, has first introduced the new payment option at the shopping centre Arena in Zagreb. Semper Tehnika and Eluxio now offer this option over the Vipnet mobile operator. Croatian Telecom will probably introduce it to its customers by the end of July, and the next one to do the same will be Tele2. In the words of Davor Botinčan, co-founder and CEO of Eluxio, the goal of this innovation is to simplify the use of the service.
“It is our wish that the children get a really good service, but to make this easier on the parents as well, so that they can pay for it via text messages", says Botinčan. Amidžić estimates that, in terms of volume and turnover, Eluxio will potentially record one of the biggest jumps in this business so far. “What they do makes everyone happy – both the kids and the management. After meeting with them, I was also smiling all the time. In addition, these machines are working non-stop", Amidžić explains.
He clarified that Trilix is positioning itself as a bridge of cooperation between the companies that have vending machines and mobile operators. “In the coming period, we expect that not only self-service car washes and automated toys will be connected to mobile operators. It will be possible to do the same with coffee makers, milk machines and many other similar devices", Amidžić adds.
