SEO’s digital leap is enabled by SEONappi – a mobile app developed by Etteplan

Established in 1978, SEO (Suomalainen Energiaosuuskunta) is a wholly Finnish oil company that is controlled by its merchants. The SEO network includes more than 220 distribution stations, service stations or unmanned filling stations. SEO merchants independently decide on their station’s services, as well as on their fuel distribution and pricing solutions. This forms the basis for the SEO network’s independent and autonomous nature. The merchants of SEO’s service station network serve customers around Finland, from the shores of the Gulf of Finland all the way to Nuorgam, Lapland. www.seo.fi

SEO and Etteplan have worked together in the field of digitalization for several years now. In 2020, SEO and Etteplan launched yet another new project to promote digitalization. SEO was looking for a mobile app solution that would allow customers to carry their consumer services in their pockets and that would also serve corporate customers and SEO merchants.

More precisely, the goal was to achieve more efficient communication with customers, to enable mobile payment and to offer gas station customers the information they need, in addition to buying fuel oil through the app.

SEO’s merchant-led business model was one of the project’s special features. SEO merchants offer their customers a broad selection of services and they all need to be able to communicate locally with their customers.

Etteplan was chosen as the development partner due to the companies’ long history of cooperation and Etteplan’s extensive knowledge of the sector. A strong track record in the implementation and maintenance of mobile apps was another factor in favor of Etteplan.

The SEONappi app is a significant digital leap for SEO and bolsters the company’s competitive position in the fuel sector.

“SEO will continue to develop and renew its business. A changing environment requires renewal, and SEONappi is an excellent tool for achieving this.”

Arto Viljanen

SEO’s CEO

Mobile app where up-to-date information is readily available to customers

Together with SEO, Etteplan developed the SEONappi mobile app which was rolled out comprehensively in March 2022. The app is designed to serve consumers, corporate customers and SEO merchants. Cooperation between the companies was excellent.

“SEO showed a clear dedication to the project by allocating sufficient resources and displaying an interest in understanding how the solution would be implemented. Everything we did reflected trust and a collaborative spirit,” says Etteplan’s Project Manager Marko Felin.

In the SEONappi app, SEO merchants are able to create local benefits and campaigns for consumers, which they can find on their phones instead of the traditional plastic cards. A service that sets SEO apart from competitors is the SEO Lämpö online store, which allows customers to order fuel oil quickly and conveniently for machinery and heating homes and other premises. The SEONappi app also includes a mobile refueling feature, with which customers can refuel biofuel in addition to fossil fuels.

Digital platform supports SEO’s digitalization

The new mobile app not only offers SEO a new digital channel for reaching customers, but also for developing business and digitalization in the future. The app itself is easy to use and improves the user experience of SEO merchants and consumer and corporate customers.

“We got to develop a solution that will play a huge role in SEO’s multi-channel service environment in the future. The solution will not just support current operations, but also enable the development of services going forward,” explains Antti Ojaranta, Head of Retail and Payments, Business Architect, Apps and Cloud Solutions at Etteplan.

For consumers, the mobile app means going card free and having the services at their fingertips at all times. The merchants can market their services in a targeted way that stands out. SEO’s services as a whole are now available on the new digital channel.