In the less than six months after acquiring the micro market tech company, digital payments leader Cantaloupe Inc. announced the general availability of the next generation Yoke market platform. The new system includes an upgraded customer interface, enhanced promotions and a new loyalty program, all intended to keep micro market customers more engaged.
For several prominent vending machine operators, Yoke has enabled an "easy" transition from traditional vending to a dynamic retail operation. Group C, serving the New York City region, is among those operators. “The greatest value Yoke brings is the cost of implementation," noted Group C retail market manager Chris Cascione. "It's roughly half the cost to add a Yoke market, compared to a snack and beverage machine.”
Since Cantaloupe acquired Yoke in August 2021, it said it has worked hard to upgrade an already popular solution with better technology and more tools to help retailers drive sales, while still maintaining its affordable price point. The enhanced platform is reportedly faster and more agile, with the kiosk now built on Android. It now features an LTE SIM card and durable metal enclosure for the tablet with flexible mounting options.
Additional upgrades include a QuickScan functionality at the point of checkout, a new loyalty program with tiered rewards and push notifications to drive sales. Operators will also benefit from a new Web-based, kiosk management solution that is easy to use and offers one place to view sales and reporting, among other data. The new Yoke maintains its seamless integration with Cantaloupe's Seed management system.
“Our goal was to rethink what a micro market could be,” said Michael Johnson, vice president and general manager of micro markets at Cantaloupe. “Demand for a frictionless shopping experience is growing. Traditional retailers are turning to the unattended retail market for solutions that will translate easily in the most cost efficient manner possible. This was our motivation behind the new enhancements to the Yoke platform. To better enable operators to quickly roll out a micro market in any sized space and create a seamless shopping experience, at a fraction of the cost.”
What's new in Yoke
Yoke POS: A reimagined point of sale experience employs a sturdier, versatile terminal that includes a metal enclosure and offers more mounting options. This allows retailers and vending operators to set up and run a successful self-service micro market in many more convenient locations. The new POS maintains its small stature and cost-effective price point while offering a new QuickScan function, a simple self-checkout interface that is easy to use, providing an overall improved experience.
Yoke Pay: The Yoke Payments consumer app has been redesigned with a new user interface and user experience that is intuitive and easy to operate, improving the consumer shopping experience. This engaging and feature-rich interface turns consumers’ smartphones into a POS, enabling consumers to scan and pay for products right from their mobile phones, speeding up checkout and reducing touchpoints. The new interface can help drive sales through push notifications that alert buyers to new deals and promotions. Frequent shoppers can be rewarded with the newly enhanced loyalty program that operators can customize, offering multiple tiers of rewards to keep customers engaged and coming back to that particular location.
Yoke Portal: Retailers now have access to a web-based kiosk management solution that offers complete access and control to all of their micro market locations. They can maintain and troubleshoot any issues from one location, along with managing new deals, promotions, and loyalty programs.
Seed integration: Integrating with the Seed platform is quick and simple. Customers will continue to unlock powerful, time-saving functionalities around route scheduling, inventory management, and back-office efficiencies.
The newly upgraded Yoke platform began rolling this week. Information can be had from Cantaloupe at (800) 633-0340 or [email protected].
