Micro Market Business Optimization Solution
Offers Greater Efficiencies and Streamlined Operations to Owners
and Operators
USA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAT), a premier payment
technology service provider of integrated cashless and mobile
transactions in the self-service retail market, today announced the
expansion of its newly acquired micro market optimization solution,
Seed Markets™. The cloud-based and mobile solution was introduced
in March 2016 in a limited-test deployment, bringing select micro
market operators the same service efficiency tools already
available for vending through Seed Pro™ and for office coffee
services (OCS) through Seed Delivery™. Dozens of customers have
since signed on to use Seed Markets, including All Star Services,
One Source Office Refreshments, K&R Vending, Imperial
Companies, CL Vending, Southern Canteen, and Gulf Coast
Canteen.
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Operators can simplify their operations
by standardizing a single set of mobile and web-based tools for
markets, vending, and OCS. (Photo: Business Wire)
According to the most recent NAMA Industry Census, micro markets
is the fastest growing segment in unattended retail convenience
services, with total revenue between 2014 and 2016 increasing by
more than 154 percent.
“Self-service markets are gaining momentum as the business model
evolves and businesses respond to groundbreaking, new self-service
shopping experiences like Amazon Go. But as smart owners and
operators look to add these new channels to their portfolio in any
scale, they often struggle with separate business platforms and,
consequently, separate inventory for vending, OCS and micro
markets. This lack of integration creates costly duplication in
warehousing, drivers and back-office processes,” said Michael
Lawlor, Chief Services Officer, USA Technologies. “We found,
through the success of the pilot program, that offering the same
tools for micro markets that operators use on their vending and OCS
business gives them the ability to better manage operational costs
and increase efficiencies. All Star Services has also reported an
increase in revenues collected per visit during the first six
months of use of Seed Markets. We are thrilled to be able to offer
it to all micro market operators as this industry continues to
grow.”
With the implementation of the new NAMA standard on VDI VMS/MMS
integration, USA Technologies now has the ability to accelerate the
integration of Seed Markets with micro markets on which the NAMA
standard has been implemented, as the standard eliminates delays
stemming from unique development work that would otherwise be
required to integrate Seed Markets with the various micro
markets.
“We have seen remarkable results since integrating with Seed
Markets,” said Duncan Smith, COO of All-Star Services. “Servicing
markets is 30-50 percent faster, revenue per visit has increased
because markets are better stocked, and we’ve reduced the time it
takes to pick beverage orders from the warehouse by 33 percent.
Seed Markets has also saved time on re-stocking by reducing the
amount of product being brought back from the field to the
warehouse.”
Tim Greble, Director of Markets at One Source Office
Refreshments also noted, “Our primary focus has been to dissolve
our market-only routes, and create fully integrated market/vending
routes, while maintaining a strict inventory schedule. With our
newly integrated routes, we believe we can add new market and
vending business in the Philadelphia region without adding any
additional trucks or drivers on the street, which will help us
build a foundation for future growth.”
Seed Markets Features Available to Operators
- One Standard Set of Tools:
Operators can simplify their operations by standardizing a single
set of mobile and web-based tools for markets, vending, and OCS.
Drivers can now use the same Seed Mobile™ driver handheld app to
service markets, as well as vending machines and OCS stops. This
minimizes time spent on training and eliminates the need to switch
applications or devices. Seed Mobile also features market-specific
enhancements such as laser barcode scanner support that make
inventorying much faster.
- Simplified Route Management:
Route schedules for markets, vending and OCS can all be managed in
the same web-based interface. Schedules can be market-only or mixed
with vending and/or OCS. Markets can even be split across routes,
where a market’s snack racks and drink coolers can be serviced by a
regular vending driver, while a market’s food coolers can be
serviced on a food route. Dynamic Scheduling helps to avoid wasting
valuable route labor on markets or sections of markets that don’t
need service.
- Efficient Warehouse Pre-Picking:
Seed Markets simplifies an operator’s warehouse operations as well.
Operators no longer need to train warehouse employees on multiple
systems, because the same Seed Office™ web and mobile apps now
handle inventory management and accountability for markets, vending
and OCS. For operators who want to pre-pick market orders with
vending orders on the same route, Seed Markets supports a “one
pass” pre-pick operation that allows markets and vending machine
pre-picks to be selected at the same time, increasing picker
efficiency.
- Single Reporting Interface: A
simplified back-office providing a single reporting interface for
markets, vending, and OCS business. Financial reporting can be run
across all three lines of business in a single report, making a
rolled-up customer P&L or Category P&L easy to generate
without having to manage data from multiple systems. Operational
reporting is also consolidated, allowing the generation of driver
and route performance metrics across vending, markets, and
OCS.
- Cash Accountability: Reconcile
cash collected from markets with cash counted in the money room,
enabling the reduction of cash shrinkage and better oversight of
cash flow.
“With the integration of Seed Markets with the micro markets
supplied by 365 Retail Markets completed, operators are already
taking advantage of Seed Markets to manage all of their 365
markets,” said Anant Agrawal, EVP Corporate Development, USA
Technologies. “Yoke and Company Kitchen, two other micro market
providers, expect to integrate their micro markets with Seed
Markets in the near future, and we expect other major providers
will follow.”
The news comes on the heels of the company’s recent announcement
and what we consider to be strong customer interest in USAT’s
expanded end-to-end enterprise services with the addition of Seed
Pro and Seed Office solutions to its cashless payment platform
following its acquisition of Cantaloupe Systems on November 9,
2017. The acquisition added logistics, dynamic route scheduling,
automated pre-kitting, responsive merchandising, inventory
management, warehouse and accounting management to USAT’s existing
portfolio of cashless payment, loyalty and consumer engagement
services. The expansion of Seed Markets further extends USAT’s
enterprise offering for self-service unattended retail
businesses.
Useful Links:
USA Technologies: https://usatech.com/Twitter:
https://twitter.com/usa_techYouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/USATechnologiesResource Center:
https://usatech.com/resource-center/the-benefits
Sales and Partnership Inquiries:
Please contact USA Technologies, Inc. at +1 800.633.0340 or
sales@usatech.com.
About USA Technologies:
USA Technologies, Inc. is a premier payment technology service
provider of integrated cashless and mobile transactions in the
self-service retail market. The company also provides a broad line
of cashless acceptance technologies including its NFC-ready ePort®
G-series, ePort Mobile™ for customers on the go, ePort®
Interactive, and QuickConnect, an API Web service for developers.
Through its recent acquisition of Cantaloupe Systems, Inc., the
company also offers logistics, dynamic route scheduling, automated
pre-kitting, responsive merchandising, inventory management,
warehouse and accounting management solutions. Cantaloupe Systems
is a premier provider of cloud and mobile solutions for vending,
micro markets, and office coffee services. USA Technologies and
Cantaloupe Systems have 85 United States and foreign patents in
force; and have agreements with Verizon, Visa, Chase Paymentech and
customers such as Compass, AMI Entertainment and others. For more
information, please visit the website at www.usatech.com.
Forward-looking Statements:
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995: All statements other than statements of
historical fact included in this release, including without
limitation the business strategy and the plans and objectives of
USAT's management for future operations, are forward-looking
statements. When used in this release, words such as "anticipate",
"believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend", and similar expressions,
as they relate to USAT or its management, identify forward-looking
statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the
beliefs of USAT's management, as well as assumptions made by and
information currently available to USAT's management. Actual
results could differ materially from those contemplated by the
forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors,
including but not limited to, the ability of USAT to predict future
market conditions and customer response to Seed Markets; the
possibility that all of the expected benefits and efficiencies from
Seed Markets, including improvements in efficiencies and revenue,
and scalability, will not be realized by all micro market operators
and on all micro markets or within the expected time period;
whether the micro market segment of unattended retail will continue
to grow at the current pace; the pace at which micro market
operators adopt the NAMA standard for VDI VMS/MMS integration; and
whether and when USAT will complete integration of Seed Markets
with micro markets supplied by certain providers. Readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this
release speaks only as of the date of this release. Unless required
by law, USAT does not undertake to release publicly any revisions
to these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or
circumstances or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated
events.
--G-USAT
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