Apriva, the provider of end-to-end wireless transactions and secure information solutions, announced that its Apriva Vend™ cashless payment solution experienced strong adoption rates during the third quarter of 2011. According to the company, Apriva Vend activations rose approximately 24 percent compared to the previous quarter. Activations were consistently strong in both the bottler and independent operator sectors.
“We’re very pleased with the traction that Apriva Vend has been generating,” said Rinaldo Spinella, Apriva’s executive vice president for unattended payments in a prepared statement. “Every week, we talk with more and more operators who recognize the intrinsic value which card-based payments acceptance brings to their businesses. We see no signs that this trend is abating, and have every expectation that our growth will only escalate in 2012.”
According to Spinella, Apriva Vend’s growth has been particularly strong among independent vending operators, indicating that cashless vending technologies are steadily gaining broad acceptance in the market.
“While the major bottlers have been long-time advocates for cashless vending, independent operators have historically been much more cautious about deploying these solutions,” explained Spinella. “We’re starting to see a significant shift among independent providers, who are beginning to appreciate that cashless vending offers a viable option for increasing sales, expanding margins, lowering operating costs, and improving profitability. In a commoditized and price-compressed industry like vending, it is a message that is beginning to resonate. “
Several of the most recent operators to sign up for Apriva Vend agree with this assessment.
Rome Refreshments, a Houston, Texas-based operator which provides hot and cold beverages and snack items at vending machines, initially looked at cashless vending several years ago, but considered the technology to be unreliable. Today, Rome has cashless vending technology deployed at a number of machines across the Houston area, and is in the process of greatly expanding its cashless footprint. Dominic Macerola, owner of Rome Refreshments, said the introduction of Apriva Vend cashless vending has helped increase sales dramatically.
“We’re noticing that many of our customers, particularly those under the age of 40, prefer to make purchases by credit and debit cards,” said Macerola in a prepared statement. “In many locations we serve, such as colleges and transportation centers, the use of cards has exceeded cash payments. More importantly, we’re finding that customers that pay by card tend to spend more money at the vending machines. They’re not limited by the cash they have in their pocket at any one time. As a result, we’ve watched our sales grow incrementally by giving customers the option of how they want to pay for our products.”
In addition to increasing sales and expanding the customer base, many operators have found Apriva Vend as a powerful tool for lowering operating costs. One such operator, Sun N’ Fun Vending, a Florida-based company that operates various games at shopping malls throughout the Sunshine State, is using cashless vending to both increase revenue, as well as reduce the costs associated with supporting cash payments.
“Accepting cards as payment is a much more efficient and secure option when compared to the burden of collecting, counting and depositing coins and dollar bills into the bank,” said Tim Dorr, owner of Sun N’ Fun Vending. “The Apriva Vend technology alleviates these problems by automatically depositing receipts directly into our bank accounts, usually within 24 hours. On top of this, we don’t have to worry about shrinkage and other issues as much because of the superior security of card-based payments. From reliability, efficiency, cash flow and profitability perspectives, the Apriva Vend solution has really surpassed our expectations.”
An end-to-end solution, Apriva Vend gives operators the ability to cost-effectively integrate cashless vending into their operations to improve customer satisfaction, increase operational efficiency and capture better sales and profit margins. Apriva Vend’s comprehensive service incorporates system hardware and software, wireless connectivity, transaction and alarm reporting capabilities, and integration with leading payment processors and financial institutions.
For more information, visit www.apriva.com
