Serghei Fraseniuc: We can cover any payment need of a client, from any field
The EasyPay Group, which is 11 years old today, produces, sells, and handles the maintenance of payment terminals to create a complete activity cycle. Currently, EasyPay holds the number 1 position in the production of payment terminals, but also manages the most profitable network in Romania. Serghei Fraseniuc, the founder of EasyPay Group, sets ambitious goals – to become number 1 in Europe among cash-in and cash-out payment system manufacturers within the next 5 years. Read below about how the story of a Ukrainian born in Chișinău began in Bucharest, the betting market, and ambitions.
We hear about EasyPay System everywhere, but now we have the opportunity to learn more…
When we talk about EasyPay, we are actually discussing a group of companies, each with a separate activity, yet closely linked to one another.
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 deployed in the market nationwide. An extremely developed business in other countries at that time, which however started very timidly in Romania, as people were not familiar with these self-service payment systems that today have gained considerable momentum, with clients understanding the ease with which they can use them and their benefits.
The self-service payment terminal has also found its place in gaming halls, with profile clients using it especially for pre-pay top-ups and pay-save-card, as well as over 140 other services covering almost all payment domains.
What additional solutions do you offer gaming halls, besides betting terminals?
By deploying a payment terminal in gaming halls, we can increase sales. This way, the client does not leave the gaming hall to make several additional payments. We now offer symbiotic solutions between a sports betting terminal and a payment terminal. This is the know-how we are preparing for the Romanian market and beyond. Another additional service for these halls is the deployment of cryptocurrency terminals.
At the same time, as a company, we do not focus only on the sports betting and self-service payment market. We have many other solutions in our portfolio worth mentioning. Among these are: solutions for the HoReCa domain, cash deposit and transfer, terminals for parking and insurance payments, currency exchange, fuel payment at gas stations, purchase of tickets and subscriptions for public transport, and many others.
All of these, through self-service terminals operated directly by the user without requiring operator intervention.
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 claim that as a manufacturer and with strategic partnerships, we can cover any payment need of a client, from any field.
Let’s talk about that timid beginning you mentioned earlier. Who was Serghei Fraseniuc at that moment and how did you start this business?
In 2006, Romania seemed like a good opportunity to me at that time and the country where I wanted to develop. Through many attempts and searches, I ended up playing on a basketball team in Romania with which I went to training camps.
100 dollars monthly and a fairly nice dormitory was what I was offered as a basketball team player.
Although I say that at that moment the market was barely in an incipient stage, once 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 potential collaboration, and I found them. Their contacts were entered into an Excel spreadsheet, I started talking to each of them until I finally found a parallel job.
I worked for a period of time at a factory purchased by Russians, Laminorul Brăila, later it was necessary to go to Moscow. There I worked at a similar company as in Brăila where I managed to truly grasp the complexity of the industry.
I returned to Bucharest consumed by the desire to start my own business. I bought the first 50 payment terminals. At first, for the first 3 years, I did not record a profit. I personally handled the deployment, modification of terminals, and the collection part.
In a 20-square-meter room, together with the first and only employee, I assembled the first self-service terminal. If in 2014 we sold 100 terminals per year, in recent years we sell approximately 2,000 terminals, which makes me extremely happy.
Currently, EasyPay consists of a group of 4 companies, the first established one operating its own network of payment terminals, followed by EasyPay Production which produces self-service terminals for all payment domains. Adjacent is Easy Technix which covers the warranty and maintenance of our own terminals and those launched on the market. Because during the pandemic we chose to be brave and invest when the entire market froze, RiverBet is the company we continue to develop after last year we acquired the RiverBet betting division. Currently operating 350 terminals.
Serghei Fraseniuc: We can cover any payment need of a client, from any field
What is your attitude toward competition?
Competition makes business more interesting and more efficient and is what drives the founder and the business to improve work processes and offer quality products, not quantitative ones.
Thus, my attention in business focuses on the client, their needs, pain points, and expectations, and therefore we change based on this understanding.
When we talk about client service, we cannot neglect corporate culture, which in this case plays an overwhelming role. Its absence will “eat up” any well-planned strategy.
The main objective of the EasyPay Group remains to always offer the best quality-to-price ratio, the shortest delivery time, relying on internal stocks and satisfied clients who, in the end, give us the best recommendations.
Considering that the EasyPay Group has grown gradually, constantly investing in the team and in development, I am certain that we will be able to fulfill our plans to expand sales to other countries we have not yet accessed, as well as to grow the terminal network.
Speaking of client service – EasyPay is a two-time consecutive winner for Sports Betting Terminal, once in 2019 and once in the very year the pandemic exploded. How did you manage to achieve this position?
Of course, I am first and foremost extremely proud to hold this position in such a changing market, but the price-quality ratio and the excellent service that my team offers its clients are the foundation of this performance. We occupy a position we have no intention of relinquishing soon.
Every year we continue to invest, to develop, 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 ensure that the terminals have a maximum lifespan, that they function properly, so that the client does not have to worry about all these processes, being concerned only with absorbing the profit that our technical solutions bring.
How did you experience this pandemic year when many businesses did not survive?
Regarding the pandemic year, of course we were also affected to a certain extent, but by strategically choosing our partners, together we understood that it was only a matter of time until the situation would be unblocked, and the needs would come as a boom for which we must be prepared. So we can say that we worked in advance for a period we were confident would come, and now we are experiencing the results.
What are the plans for the future?
In the sport I was involved in for years, basketball – there is no tie, there is always a winner. In business as in sports, there is also no tie. The goal of a team in any sport/business is to win. In business, the founder always tends to be the best, to obtain significant profit, to build client loyalty, and to be much better than the competitor.
At least I do not believe in ties, I am always for a fight (of course a fair one), in which one wins and the other loses. This kind of competition generates results that “drive” progress.
Business is for winners and the determined. Business involves pushing limits and a lot of confidence in what you do. That is why the goal I set before myself and before the entire team is a simple one – to become number 1 in Europe. This thought makes me work much more and more intensely. What kind of athlete are you if you settle for any place other than first?
Serghei Fraseniuc: We can cover any payment need of a client, from any field
EasyPay Systems leader in the payment terminal market.
■ For 11 years we have been delivering to the market:
■ Self-service payment terminals;
■ Betting terminals;
■ Solutions for the HoReCa domain;
■ Cash deposit and transfer;
■ Terminals for parking and insurance payments;
■ Currency exchange;
■ Payment collection solutions for fuel at gas stations;
■ Purchase of tickets and subscriptions for public transport and many others.
