PagoPa lands in vending machines with Pehi

Paying PagoPA notices at the coffee machine. This is what Pehi allows, a solution that multiplies the functions of the latest generation of vending machines, the result of the collaboration between illimity, a banking group and payment service provider, and Confida, the Italian association of vending machines, presented at Venditalia, to offer next-generation payment technologies and digital services. In practice, users access Pehi with the same app they use for consumption, scan the QR code of the pagoPa notice and pay. In addition, the electronic purse can be recharged at the same vending machine from the individual vending machine apps, with cash or with credit cards such as credit cards, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Once the transaction is complete, the consumer immediately receives confirmation and receipt of the payment made, in a convenient and secure manner.

Already ogg Pehi can count on 70,000 networked vending machines and is in the process of enabling pagoPA payments, allowing users to make payments to the public administration from the comfort of their own workplace. The first company to seize the opportunities offered by the new network, in fact, is the public tech company, pagoPA, responsible for the payments platform of the same name and created with the aim of promoting the widespread diffusion of digital public services in Italy. The ambition for Pehi is developed along three main lines: to introduce a new payment channel accessible to all, to rapidly increase the number of enabled distributors, and to extend the range of services offered. The technology partners so far involved in the project are N-and Italia (IVS Group) and Matipay (Angel Group), whose current vending machine management applications are already enabled to connect with Pehi. The service can be offered by about 250,000 of the 830,000 vending machines installed in Italy, 70,000 of which are in the process of being enabled in the next few hours.

"Vending machines are a made-in-Italy technology that is experiencing a real digital revolution in recent years. Vending machines are becoming smart, touch screens are taking the place of push-buttons, telemetry allows the management company to connect remotely with its vending machines, and payment apps are spreading very rapidly,' explains Massimo Trapletti, president of Confida. 'With Pehi, the vending machine network takes a further step forward by offering citizens an important proximity service, i.e. the possibility of paying bills, buying phone top-ups and much more in a simple and immediate way.

The decision to expand the services offered by vending machines, starting with payments to the public administration, is in line with the data recorded by pagoPA, the national electronic payments system used by an average of 12 million users per month and which in the three-year period 2021-2023 saw an increase in transactions handled of 53%. In 2023 alone, the total number of transactions carried out through pagoPA exceeded 386 million for a countervalue of 83 billion, of which 3.4% were for amounts less than or equal to EUR 10 and around 27% for amounts within EUR 25, demonstrating how the use of digital tools in dealings with public bodies and micropayments is becoming increasingly widespread.

"We have contributed to creating a new innovative proximity network at the service of citizens," says Corrado Passera, founder and CEO of illimity. "The potential of the vending world is still largely unexpressed despite the fact that Italy is one of the most advanced countries. We are now embarking on a path with great potential for growth: from today it will be possible to make payments to the public administration thanks to the integration with pagoPA, but the range of information services and devices that will be added in the coming months will be greatly enriched".