Empire Vending Implements USAT Technology To Enable Business Continuity During COVID-19 Lockdown

Houston-based Empire Vending leveraged USAT's Platform as a Service to optimize its business and improve efficiencies, allowing the operation to quickly adapt to the impact and changes brought on by COVID-19.  

MALVERN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 11, 2020-- USA Technologies, Inc. (OTC: USAT) ("USAT"), a cashless payments and software services company that provides end-to-end technology solutions for the self-service retail market, announced that Houston, Texas based Empire Vending, LLC (“Empire”) has successfully leveraged USAT’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) for complete business optimization and improved efficiencies. Additionally, the platform has been instrumental in being able to adapt quickly to the drastic changes brought about by COVID-19.

“USAT’s ability to provide a robust end-to-end solution, combined with its Customer Service Management Team’s training and product resources, was a key factor in our selection,” said Jonathan Abernathy, Director of Operations, Empire Vending, LLC. “We identified vending management as a critical component to automating and modernizing how we run our business, from getting rid of pen and paper to better insight of our inventory and cash management. The ePort deployment has enabled more payment options for our customers. In addition, the Seed Cloud^™ platform implementation has delivered scalability and flexibility, allowing us to manage all aspects of the organization, creating proficiencies that were not possible before. Never before has this been more evident than during the era of Coronavirus, as the real time data Seed provided gave us better visibility into what locations were live and needed servicing during the lockdown.”

Empire chose USAT’s PaaS to help implement cashless payments by deploying a combination of the ePort G10-S and ePort Interactive devices, across all its vending machines. In addition, Empire implemented Seed Pro and Seed Office, USAT’s logistics and back-office management software, to streamline their processes onto one platform and reduce overall operating costs. As a result, the operator has been able to confidently grow its business to become one of the larger vending operators in its region. Following deployment, and before COVID-19, the Company realized a 22% increase in top line sales after installing cashless, with 66.2% of its overall transactions being cashless compared to cash. In addition, it experienced a 107% increase in average weekly sales per route. Other key metrics achieved include:

• Improved cash accountability and reconciliation
• The number of machines serviced per route increased by 2X
• Increasing its fills per visit by 57%
• Reducing overall service stops down to an average of 15 minutes or less
• Ability to see which customers were active vs. inactive during COVID-19 lockdown

“Empire Vending’s decision to adopt USAT reflects their commitment to delivering innovative services and bottom-line results, while meeting the rigorous and ever-changing demands of the unattended and self-serve retail markets,” said Anant Agrawal, chief revenue officer, USA Technologies. “By automating time-consuming operational activities running nearly 1,000 machines and five routes, Empire Vending can reinvest that time and money into new routes and initiatives that will help the Company drive revenue and more rapidly meet larger business objectives.”

Today, Empire Vending is almost completely cashless enabled across all of its vending machines, giving customers more flexible payment options. In turn, this has also increased the average ticket price by 42%, as consumers are willing to pay for more expensive items when given the option to use a card or mobile wallet. As a result of its Seed Cloud deployment, Empire can now leverage sales data and customer trends to better stock its machines. The Company has recently incorporated USAT’s ePort Interactive devices for digital advertising of products and promoting other relevant services to consumers.

USAT’s PaaS provides the industry’s most comprehensive technology for the unattended and self-serve retail markets. The powerful combination of ePort devices and Seed software enables customers like Empire Vending to leverage this state-of-the-art technology and implement cashless payments across a network of vending machines. Further, it provides a strong logistics software platform to help manage entire operations within one platform.

To learn more about how Empire Vending achieved operation-wide success, please view the video of the customer story or read the case study.

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Please contact USA Technologies, Inc. at +1 800.633.0340 or [email protected].

About Empire Vending, LLC

Empire Vending was founded in 2012 and has grown into a full-line operator providing vending, micro markets, office coffee and pantry services. Empire is a family owned business and services over 200 customers across the Greater Houston Metropolitan Area. To learn more about Empire Vending visit https://www.theempireorganization.com.

About USA Technologies, Inc.

USA Technologies, Inc. is a cashless payments and software services company that provides end-to-end technology solutions for the self-service retail market. USAT 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. As a result, customers ranging from vending machine companies, to operators of micro-markets, gas and car charging stations, laundromats, metered parking terminals, kiosks, amusements and more, can run their businesses more proactively, predictably, and competitively.

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including without limitation the business strategy and the plans and objectives of USAT's management for future operations, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this release, words such as “may,” “could,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “seek,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “likely,” “will,” “would” and variations of these terms and similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or similar expressions, as they relate to USAT or its management, may identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the reasonable beliefs of USAT's management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to USAT's management. Actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including but not limited to the incurrence by USAT of any unanticipated or unusual non-operational expenses which would require us to divert our cash resources from achieving our business plan; the uncertainties associated with COVID-19, including its possible effects on USAT’s operations and the demand for USAT’s products and services; the ability of USAT to retain key customers from whom a significant portion of its revenues is derived; the ability of USAT to compete with its competitors to obtain market share; the ability of USAT to make available and successfully upgrade current customers to new standards and protocols; whether USAT's existing or anticipated customers purchase, rent or utilize ePort or Seed devices or our other products or services in the future at levels currently anticipated by USAT; or other risks discussed in USAT’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this release speaks only as of the date of this release. Unless required by law, USAT does not undertake to release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. If USAT updates one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that USAT will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.