As operators and customers seek easy payment, PayRange is focusing on solutions

Founded in 2013 by Paresh Patel, who has a background as an operator, PayRange has always relied on one thing: its BluKey family of products. It is the core of the mobile app-based cashless payment system that connects users to machines, making payment an easy process for customers and a cost-effective solution for operators.

“It is literally a plug-and-play solution, which is very attractive to operators, especially new entrants to the business — and there are many of those,” said Matt Birchard, director of marketing at PayRange.

Easy set up, unmatched durability

“Thanks to the MDB ports, the BluKey for vending is designed to plug in-line with the bill acceptor or the coin mech, working alongside these other payment systems. Power on the machine, and it turns on the BluKey device, and then, using the operator mode in the PayRange app, the operator can register the device right there while they are standing in front of it. Every device has a serial number on the back so that we know who owns the BluKey in each machine and where to send the revenue,” Birchard explained.

“It works in the same way that a card reader would from the machine's standpoint. It does register as a cashless device on the machine, but you don't have to do a knockout for a card reader, and you are not bolting or screwing anything on. Just put a sticker on the machine to tell users that it accepts PayRange, and you are ready to go in two minutes,” he added.

Birchard noted that BluKey offers operators an unmatched durability factor compared to any other payment system. “Our patented hardware was built to last longer than the life of the machine. The hardware is internal. Nobody's scanning it. You connect via Bluetooth so nobody's beating on it. That’s the simplicity of it,” he said. “There are no physical touch points on it. It is not wearing out like a mag stripe. It is not exposed to the outside. There is no vandalism risk. If somebody breaks the BluKey, they have done a whole lot of damage to the rest of the machine.”

Significant user growth

As an increasing number of operators are using the PayRange solution, the number of consumers who carry the PayRange app on their phone has grown significantly, making payment with the app much easier. “If you are a vending operator, you have a much better chance now than you did even two years ago of somebody walking up to your machine with PayRange already on their phone with funds ready to spend, because they're using it in their apartment building or at the laundromat or at their office,” Birchard said, pointing out that the company has seen great success in the laundry channel.

While PayRange has a card reader solution because in some situations it is required, Birchard said that the company is mobile first and, while PayRange started as a mobile payment solution, the company has now evolved into a whole lot more. “Mobile payment is at the core, but getting our hardware device installed so that we can facilitate the machine-to-consumer connection — that is what we do. We've become a lot more scalable with additional product features,” he said.

Powerful VMS

“When we acquired Vagabond a couple years ago, we integrated their technology and system into the PayRange platform. We took on their VMS, now called VendSights. This intuitive software is designed to help operators match product selections with customer demand, dramatically increasing satisfaction as well as service efficiency. This makes an operation leaner, smarter and more profitable — able to win and manage more accounts with less resources,” Birchard said.

“The acquisition also brought us a micro market solution, PayRange Market Pro, which is drawing a tremendous amount of interest from operators,” he added.

PayRange just launched a remote pay function, which allows an operator to send payment to a machine from anywhere. “It's used primarily as a refund function. If you are in front of the machine and it didn't vend, you can contact the operator, who will see the message on their phone, and they can send another payment to the machine immediately,” Birchard said. “It is an example of what we can layer on top of our existing mobile technology.”

Access controls: smart market application?

“We are also getting into other things like access controls. In our laundry segment, there are many laundromats, for instance, that have a bathroom, but they want to restrict use to customers only. Our BluKey device can connect to an existing electronic lock and unlock a door for somebody using the app,” he said.

“That kind of technology can be applied in other segments or combined with our age and identify verification platform for age-restricted vending, which is growing rapidly,” Birchard said. “It is all part of our goal to connect a machine operator with the technology solutions that will make their business more successful and reduce friction for the consumer.”

Understanding operator needs

“The message for operators is that PayRange is very scalable, and we have solutions for every operator, wherever they are on their journey. If you are just starting out buying one machine, we have a solution for you, just as we do for several of our operators who run thousands of machines right now on the PayRange network,” Birchard said. “It is important to note that we were founded by a vending operator. The whole company understands that this is a challenging business, and we need to support operators to ensure that they are profitable.”