Bringing Loyalty Programs To The Self-Serve Crowd

Vending machines and retail kiosks are becoming more advanced as solution providers introduce new technologies and retailers implement the solutions to sell a wider variety of products, including high-end goods and even controlled substances like alcohol.

But as retailers work to expand vending machines’ product ranges, they may find their machines to be tempting targets for theft and hackers. In this month’s Unattended Retail Tracker, PYMNTS explores how businesses are sharpening their vending machine and kiosk security approaches while using self-serve solutions to sell a wider range of goods.

Around the Unattended Retail World

Worldnet, Unattended, Retail, Loyalty, ID TECH, Payments, Kiosks, Vending Machines, Security, Mobile, Self-Serve

A recent project from blockchain-based identity startup Civic aims to keep alcoholic beverages sold through unattended retail out of underage hands. Customers must pay using a cryptocurrency app, which requires them to first undergo identity verification.

Automated vending is also being applied to cannabidiol (CBD oil). Vending technology and robotic retail provider FastCorp Vending and CBD producer and seller For The Earth Corporation teamed up on the effort, which is expected to help bring cannabis-related products to consumers who would be uncomfortable purchasing them from retail staff in public.

More vending machines are also adopting mobile payment acceptance — even for traditionally coin-based operations like laundry machines. According to mobile payment and loyalty service PayRange, app-based payments remove friction from those operations and enable customers to receive alerts regarding their laundry machine’s status.

Find all the latest headlines in the Tracker.

Deep Dive: Providing Attentive Security to Unattended Retail

As unattended retail solutions are adopted to sell high-end goods such as electronics and prescription medications, the risk of theft increases. Retailers must protect their products and machines from fraud and theft, whether from criminals or from dishonest employees, all without adding frictions for consumers or staff.

In this month’s Deep Dive, PYMNTS explores how retailers are tapping solutions like smart locks to foil bad actors.

To read the full Deep Dive, check out the Tracker.

How Unattended Retail Sells Loyalty

With the hard work and funds that retailers put toward recruiting first-time customers, it becomes all the more important to keep them coming back for more. But while brick-and-mortar merchants and eCommerce retailers can leverage sales staff to sign up customers for loyalty cards at checkout or websites that offer email discounts and coupons, unattended kiosks and vending machines have traditionally been left out in the cold.

In this month’s feature story, Justin Ning, vice president of product management at payment solution provider ID TECH, explains how this issue is changing, with new kiosk technologies like touchscreen displays and mobile wallet acceptance paving the way for self-serve loyalty program offerings and options to build customer relationships at the kiosk.

Get the full scoop in the Tracker.

About the Tracker

The Unattended Retail Tracker, powered by Worldnet Payments, serves as a bimonthly framework for the space, providing coverage of the most recent news and trends, as well as a directory highlighting the key players contributing to the segments that comprise the expansive unattended retail ecosystem.