Retail sales may have seen the future, according to an article by Ed McKinley in the January/February 2017 issue of Transaction Trends magazine (pages 14-17).
The article details the Amazon Go shopping experience, where you fill up your cart and walk right out the door—no checkout line needed. Purchases are scanned as you add them to your cart, and you are charged as you walk out the door.
While this process could dramatically improve customer experiences, retailers might also see the benefits of easier financial and inventory management, increased sales due to cashless convenience, and more. These type of benefits can also be seen in unattended and self-service payments, which is an area where we see tremendous potential.
McKinley’s article captures how Amazon Go made a big wave when it was introduced in Seattle in late 2016, becoming the first convenience store to offer “Just Walk Out Technology.” While other retailers are working towards this format, it may take some time to integrate all of the required systems. Eliminating the checkout line in the Amazon Go store falls in line with a larger trend toward self-service, notes Apriva president, David Riddiford, in the article. Younger shoppers prefer cashless, self-service and mobility options.
Retail stores are not the only ones benefiting from the move towards omnichannel systems. Businesses like golf courses are seeing advantages as well. Twenty years ago, a golfer may have used a credit card to cover the greens fee, but he or she probably relied upon cash for all the other transactions at the course, said Riddiford in a sidebar (page 17) citing Apriva’s focus and experiences in self-service payments. Today, that credit card is good at a desktop POS in the pro shop, an unattended dispenser for range balls, a mobile device that travels around with the beverage cart, and a vending machine at the turn between the ninth and tenth holes. By offering an easy cashless system for customers, as Apriva technologies deliver, people are no longer limited to the cash in their pocket.
Check out the full article in Transaction Trends at https://issuu.com/stratton/docs/janfeb2017-full_issue?e=1313087/44212863
At Apriva, we are pleased to be part of the self-service payments solution and to make the payment process easy with our secure and flexible gateway technologies. Visit our unattended Markets page for more information, and learn more how we can support your unattended payments today and into the future!
