unattended retail

The retail industry is undergoing a significant transformation. As we step into a post-pandemic era, the advent of self-service retail and anytime anywhere payments is revolutionizing how consumers shop and pay for their purchases. In the latest episode of our podcast, we had the pleasure of hosting Elyssa Steiner, the CMO of Cantaloupe, to discuss these dynamic shifts in retail.

We also discussed the expansion of self-service retail solutions across various verticals. Airports, gas stations, gym memberships, and residential buildings are just a few areas where these solutions are becoming increasingly common. The rise of cashless food and beverage vending machines across these sectors is reshaping how businesses deliver services and products.

The future of retail is set to be even more digitized and personalized. Elyssa predicts that AI technology, smart coolers, and other advancements will continue to drive the growth of self-service retail.

My guest this week leads from a place of ownership, action, honesty, and trust – the core values upon which his company was founded. Nayax CEO and Co-Founder Yair Nechmad has a passion for creating an efficient enterprise system that affords his customers and employees the work/life balance we all deserve.

For those of you who may not know, Nayax is a payments company offering integrated POS solutions and software for the unattended market sector. They are currently growing at more than 35% year over year, with more than 700 employees contributing to their success.

As for their competitive advantage, according to Yair, they are the only company globally operating an end-to-end loyalty and payments solution, with a foot on the ground in 65 different countries. Their use cases include tier 1 retailers looking for a business-in-a-box solution and they offer both software and hardware for a one-stop-shop ecosystem.

Tune in this week to hear Yair talk about the evolution of the unattended industry and his journey to CEO. We also talk about where he sees the industry going in the next 2-3 years as it relates to loyalty programs, embedded options and payments being the center of gravity for the entire customer journey.

My guest this week is a self-proclaimed “recovering consultant” with a love for technology and an eye for connectivity. Cantaloupe CEO Ravi Venkatesan joined Cantaloupe in December 2020 with a path for progress that’s already dominating their industry sector.

For those of you who may not know, Cantaloupe is the technology ally for any business that “doesn’t have roots in the ground,” according to Ravi. This includes unattended cafeterias, vending machines, parking lots, EV charging stations, laundromats, and self-service massage chairs, just to name a few. And one of the things that makes them such a main player in the industry is there IoT capacity. Not only do they provide the telemeter and card reader necessary to enable a self-service storefront, but they also have all devices connected to a proprietary cloud network, with a proprietary payments gateway and an enterprise SaaS solution that lets any customer successfully manage their inventory input and output. And, as if that wasn’t enough already, they just recently got into the self-service kiosk-based market with their recent acquisition of Yoke Payments.

Ravi and I have an interesting discussion about the self-service economy. Not only is it much more prevalent than we think it is, but it’s also expected to grow to be a $46 billion industry by 2027. According to Ravi, the three dominant drivers for this massive growth spurt include:  

·       Labor shortage 

·       Consumer preference 

·       And availability of technology

Tune in to hear Ravi talk about the projected growth spurt of an already prolific industry sector, the convergence of the physical and the digital worlds (coined phigital), and what it looks like to guide a company at the intersection of IoT, digital payments, enterprise SaaS, and self-service kiosk innovation.

In this episode, I continue my deep dive into the unattended retail sector of the payments space with industry leader Cantaloupe. Their Vice President, GM Micro Markets Michael Johnson is my guest, and he has been in the autonomous retail space for quite some time now so the perspective he offers on this rapidly growing niche within our industry truly gives some food for thought about the future of where consumer engagement is headed.

For those of you who may not know what the unattended retail space refers to, think the free-standing snack and drink kiosk’s you see at the airport, or the unmanned shops in corporate breakrooms and hotel lobbies. Cantaloupe is a digital payments and software company that acts as a full-service technology partner for businesses looking to expand their reach into the self-service micro market. In a nutshell, they help companies collect money through payments, run a tight ship with business efficiency and build life-long customer relationships through meaningful engagement practices. 

As a result of the global pandemic, self-checkout and unattended retail went quickly from a nice-to-have classification to an absolute must. And Cantaloupe has been the industry leader driving all the buzz. 

Tune in this week to hear Michael talk about the growing consumer demand for a frictionless experience when it comes to payments, how AI has helped us take the enormous data dump that came with the digital age and make that data both meaningful and profitable, and what to expect moving forward in terms of cryptocurrency and relevant trends or unique applications predicted to dominate the unattended retail space. 

Today we’re taking a special look at the Unattended Retail space with industry leader Cantaloupe. 

Cantaloupe, Inc. is a software and payments company that provides end-to-end technology solutions for the unattended retail market. Cantaloupe is transforming the unattended retail community by offering one integrated solution for payments processing, logistics, and back-office management. The Company’s enterprise-wide platform is designed to increase consumer engagement and sales revenue through digital payments, digital advertising and customer loyalty programs, while providing retailers with control and visibility over their operations and inventory.

On this episode Elyssa Steiner from Cantaloupe is joining me to discuss the results of their recent survey. They targeted more than 2,000 census-based US adults. We’re going to talk about some of the surprises compared to last year, some of the latest trends, micro-markets and much much more.  

Sean Feeney, the CEO of Cantaloupe is our special guest this week on episode 90 of the Leaders in Payments podcast. 

Sean grew up in a small town in New York called Attica – which of course is famous for its maximum-security prison. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the Army for 6 years mostly in Europe. He currently lives in Roswell, Georgia.  

Cantaloupe is the leading provider of solutions to the unattended retail space – for example vending machines, car washes, basically anything where there isn’t a retail clerk.  They provide both the digital payments capability and the software that drives the logistics servicing of those locations. The company was started in the early 90s, will do approximately $160-170 million in sales this year and has 180 employees.  

Cantaloupe was formerly USA Technologies. They launched the new name and a complete new brand about a month ago.   

On the personal side Sean has a passion for his family and supports a lot of youth and high school activities and on the business side he is very passionate about building great leaders and helping them succeed. 

My special guest this week is Maeve Mckenna Duska, the Chief Marketing Officer of USA Technologies. 

USA Technologies specializes in enterprise software and business optimization in the unattended retail space –They provide the hardware, payment processing and software to help their customizers optimize their business.

The COVID19 crises is certainly accelerating many of the trends toward unattended retail including things like contactless payments, digital payments or really the reduced use of cash in our society. 

Maeve grew up in a tiny seashore town in central New Jersey and loves getting to spend time at the beach. 

She has a passion for her team and all of the employees at USA Technologies and also provides some great advice to those just starting out in the industry. 

To learn more about USA Technologies visit:

www.usatech.com

www.leadersinpayments.com

All of the Leaders In Payments podcasts are produced by:
www.podcast609.com