USA Technologies, Inc. (USAT) has released data from its 2013 Cashless Knowledge Base that demonstrates how a cashless payment platform can be instrumental in driving additional revenues. One of the highlights of this year's study was a sales trend analysis that showed a 28 percent increase in average revenues and 23 percent increase in average transactions for a dataset of approximately 10,000 vending terminals over a twelve month period.
USAT's Knowledge Base represents cash and cashless payment data collected from its ePort Connect® service network—a network that processes over $200 million in cashless, self-serve retail transactions annually. The 2013 Knowledge Base is designed to help customers optimize their cashless payment platforms and includes various subsets of vending machine activity that can be used to gauge incremental revenue post cashless installation, average transaction metrics and channel information.
Mike Lawlor, USAT's senior vice president of sales and business development, unveiled key data from the 2013 Cashless Knowledge Base at this year's NAMA OneShow in Las Vegas. Lawlor commented, "Our customers no longer question whether consumer demand is trending toward the use of cashless forms of payment; rather, the bigger question we try to address is: ‘Can it help my business results and if so, how?' The data, noted below from the Sales Trend analysis, presents a positive story. We are not just seeing cashless sales and volume increase over time, as last year's study pointed to, but we are seeing growth in cash sales as well. In our view, that tells us that cashless is doing more than just replacing cash — it's bringing in business."
About the 12-month study
The data used for the sales trend analysis, consisted of qualifying data from approximately 10,000 cashless vending terminals with data tracking beginning the first month after installation. Qualifying data was defined as data from cashless deployments that started after Dec. 31, 2010, generated at least $1,000 in cashless sales by the end of the 12-month period following installation and had at least 12 months of data available.
Highlights include:
- 28 percent increase in average monthly vending sales (credit and cash), fueled by 79 percent increase in credit sales; 17 percent increase in cash sales.
- 23 percent increase in average monthly vending transactions (credit and cash), fueled by 74 percent increase in credit transactions; 15 percent increase in cash transactions.
About the 3-month study
USAT also evaluated data over a three month period, from January to March 2013, from approximately 62,000 ePort Connect cashless vending terminals that had at least $500 a year in annualized cashless sales.
Highlights include:
- The average credit "spend" was 30 percent higher than a cash vend.
- The rate of cashless usage more than doubled for a $3 transaction compared to a $1.00 transaction.
"In our view, a cashless payment platform can prove to be one of the most impactful investments a business can make," continued Lawlor. "With the onset of mobile payment, new loyalty programs and major beverage companies like Coca-Cola recently talking with the NFC Times about the importance of cashless (view article), we believe there is no better time to plan for widespread cashless adoption. In fact, a recent NAMA OneShow recap published by Emily Refermat, Editor of Automatic Merchandiser (view blog), reinforces USAT's view that business owners and operators in our market segment should move quickly to benefit from the 'cashless effect' today." In her blog, Refermat states:
"There was a time, not too long ago, that technology was just for the front runners or large businesses, but now, it's become a necessity for many more operations. Vending to manufacturing facilities and huge end user populations is just a memory. To survive in this environment, operators need to run their businesses smarter, more efficiently and over deliver to be successful."
USAT believes the trends indicated in the 2013 Cashless Knowledge Base, as well as statements such as those appearing in the NFC Times and Automatic Merchandiser above, combined, are encouraging indicators regarding future adoption of cashless payment in the vending industry.
For more information on USAT's 2013 Cashless Knowledge Base, contact a USA Technologies sales representative at 1-800-633-0340. Existing customers can also request customized reports which enable them to track individual performance against USAT's Cashless Knowledge Base metrics.
