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~ Ingenico ~

he world’s best. withstand high sales spikes.”
Saint-Sixtus Abbey started to produce cheese and
Tbeer in the early 1800s to be self-supportive. The A resolution
continuous pursuit of quality, combined with a respect for The Saint-Sixtus Abbey sought help from payment
tradition and the environment, put the Trappist Westvleteren professionals, Ingenico ePayments, to meet its payment
on the map, and today its brews are celebrated worldwide, system and fraud protection needs. To assist with the Abbey’s
receiving the ‘Best Beer in the World’ accolade over five bespoke requirements, Ingenico implemented a simple online
times. payments system with an intuitive interface to guide customers
smoothly through the process. This helps avoid any issues on
Westvleteren beers carry the label of ‘Authentic Trappist the consumer side when it comes to completing the payment in
Product,’ which means the beer is brewed within the walls that 2.5-hour window.
of a Trappist monastery under the control and responsibility
of the community of 19 monks, whose revenue is devoted to The solution’s scalability, with 99.95% uptime, allows the
social service. The production schedule is also dictated by the system to handle the high sales volumes transacted in that
monastic calendar, meaning the beer is produced in a limited same window. Without this scalability, conversion rates would
quantity. As a result, the beer is highly sought after. likely drop, resulting in lost sales and disappointed customers.

Changing with the times “Data security is also a top priority,” Ray added. “Our payments
In the time since the monks at the Saint-Sixtus Abbey solution integrates fraud screening, data security features, and
started brewing nearly 200 years ago, the Wright brothers is up to date with regulatory stipulations. As a result, we have
invented the aeroplane, women got the vote, and the internet helped the Abbey cut down on fraudulent transaction attempts,
was born. So, it’s safe to say that much has changed since giving the monastery peace of mind.”
that first beer, and the same can be said within the monastery.
Over the 19th century, official brewery buildings were set He continued, “the Abbey takes tremendous pride in its beer
up. Later, in the 1920s, the monks modernised by adding production and, between that and other monastic duties,
steam to the production process, and in the 1970s, they the last thing we want them to do is have to worry about
implemented a lab and bottling line. consumers taking advantage of their commerce offering, or
genuine customers not being able to complete their purchase.
More recently, the monks have had to upgrade their ordering It’s a delight to have been able to go on this journey with
and payments systems to cope with international demand. them.”

“There is an extremely high demand for the coveted The monastery now operates a highly functional click and
Westvleteren Trappist, as the monks only ever sell enough to collect system with the help of Ingenico, where once customers
cover annual costs, sponsorships of charitable initiatives, and have completed the online process, they then select a pick-up
social projects,” commented Ray Bak. “So, around a year ago, slot to collect their beer.
the Abbey decided to go online in an effort to smooth out the
ordering process and tackle stockpiling and reselling issues. It The new system has been essential to keeping the monastery’s
wanted to give as many individuals the chance to try its brew beer business thriving and secure. In its first year with an
as possible while avoiding other security issues.” online presence, it registered 80,000 customers, and the
payments process has worked without any issues. After a brief
The Trappists’ tech sales hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, it is now back up
Once online, the next step for the monastery was to find the and running online. ••
right payment system to meet its requirements.
TO PURCHASE THE EXCLUSIVE BEER, YOU CAN GO TO: WWW.TRAPPISTWESTVLETEREN.BE
The Abbey’s ordering process occurs twice a month and is
only open for a period of about two and a half hours. Within
that time, registered customers are permitted to purchase
a maximum of two crates of beer. Due to the high demand
and purchase restriction, Saint-Sixtus has unfortunately
experienced fraudulent transaction attempts.

Ray Bak continued, “the Abbey required an international
payments system which would support a range of different
methods and currencies to suit its global customer base and
one that put a focus on data security and fraud support. Due
to its unique ordering process, it also needed to be able to

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