PAYMENT SYSTEMS


Building on positive changes


T


he shift to contactless and mobile payments has revolutionised sales opportunities for vending operators, simplifying their operations and saving them time and money. For customers


it’s improved their experience by making vending even easier to use and therefore more appealing again. But what comes next? Laura Barwell, director of business development at VMC explains:


“Operators now need to look at how to build on these positive changes and we think the most obvious opportunity is in leveraging mobile phone functionality to grow sales even further. Mobile phones add the potential for connected apps and digital loyalty schemes with rewards that encourage repeat purchasing. They are


also a great way of getting customers more engaged, which can make all the difference in workplace vending environments where there is a captured and regular customer base.” Laura continues: “The VMC Flex app is a ready-made solution


that’s easy to implement, with features that encourage extra purchases and can quickly increase overall spend per customer. It can also provide operators with an insight into their customers purchasing habits to improve stock management and sales. Integrations with telemetry software are also possible to provide updates on machine status and performance at all times, keeping your operation running smoothly.”


Payment systems mean so much more than “just” adding sales


Today, contactless readers are everywhere in our society: at the petrol station we don’t only use them to fill up the tank for £90, but to add air to the tyres for


just 50p too. Our vending and OCS sectors benefit enormously from this new consumer ability and preference to pay for everything, including small ticket items, cashless. And the barrier of “I don’t have change for the machine” has simply disappeared: today everyone has a phone or card on them. For operators, it’s not just about adding


sales, says Simon Black, managing director of SB Software (we have the figures to evidence that both number of transactions and value per transaction go up once machines have


cashless functionality). There’s also enormous added value for vending companies in the increased volume, quality and speed of the data that comes along with payment systems - rich, granular and fast. So, it helps that our Vendmanager spans


the breadth of suppliers that it does - our integrations with cashless system providers now include: - Nayax - VMC (Payter) - Vianet - CPI - Coges - Payter (Cantaloupe). This supports the freedom/flexibility for


operators to take advantage of whatever payment system(s) they choose - including mix ’n’ match, maybe combining whatever they have already in their legacy estate with whatever they decide to add going forward.


What do operators need to do? Almost


certainly to accelerate/finalise the upgrade or replace machines that are cash only. But very little themselves apart from that - because they can let Vendmanager take the strain to extract maximum benefit from the new data, knowing that we will derive utmost benefit such as increasing operating efficiency, through single walk, pre-packing or visit on demand, from whatever choice of payment system operators do make. Take Automated Fleet Routing, for


example. Not only will they be increasing revenue through payment systems, but also they could be leveraging the data that they source to take advantage of the best routing there is anywhere. It’s vital for operators to understand - and then take full advantage of - the wealth of opportunities now coming on-stream with payment systems.


vendinginternational-online.com | 19


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24