Apriva and MEI Deliver Profitability Essentials at SEVA Conference Town Hall


Vending operators shown the bottom-line impact of recycling and cashless

Scottsdale, AZ - Apriva, the leading provider of end-to-end wireless transactions and secure information solutions, and MEI, the leading global manufacturer of unattended payment systems, attracted nearly 40 vending operators at its highly successful Town Hall meeting at the Southeastern Vending Association (SEVA) Conference in Destin, Florida on August 4th. Moderated by Chuck Reed, MEI's marketing director, and Stacey Finley Tappin, Apriva's vice president of sales, the session demonstrated how applications of emerging vending technology can immediately improve bottom-line performance.

"In nearly every session at the conference, vending operators were challenged to improve profitability by taking advantage of the right technology for their business," said Reed. "During the Town Hall, we emphasized that the decision to deploy technology needs to be based on business realities, not excitement just because the technology is new. Recent developments such as recyclers and cashless have proven to have immediate and positive impacts on financial performance."

In the Town Hall, Reed demonstrated the profound financial benefits achieved by vending operators by deploying recycling technology. Through these solutions, the probability of a sale dramatically increases by matching the ability to make a purchase to what is in the consumer's wallet. Reed then went on to explain how these benefits are further increased through the combination of recycling with cashless vending technologies, such as Apriva Vend(TM).

Tappin continued the Town Hall by introducing the case of an operator that increased profit margins across the board by implementing the Apriva Vend cashless payments solution. The ability to accept cash and cashless payments gave the operator the incentive to raise vend prices five cents across the board, representing a clear opportunity for vendors to use cashless as a means to break out of the "commodity selling" cycle. Just as importantly, the case study reinforced the notion that operators can integrate cashless vending without cannibalizing existing cash sales.

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 services incorporate system hardware and software, wireless connectivity, transaction and alarm reporting capabilities, and integration with leading payment processors and financial institutions.

Tappin went on to describe the different parties that take part in a card transaction, how they work together, and how they all fit into the payment ecosystem.

"Our vending customers have communicated there is a lot of uncertainty about how the payment ecosystem works, and that uncertainty has oftentimes slowed their decision to implement cashless," noted Tappin. "One of our goals for the town hall session was to demystify the different interchange scenarios offered in the marketplace, and it was clear from the audience response that we made significant strides towards achieving that goal."

At the end of the session, vending operators were also supplied a series of questions to ask their cashless service providers to help ensure they find the best fit for their individual business.

About Apriva
Founded in 1999, Apriva is the leading provider of end-to-end wireless transactions and secure information messaging solutions that meet the exacting security and reliability requirements of financial services providers, government entities, and public service sectors. Through its two operating groups, Apriva Point of Sale (POS) and Apriva Information Security Systems (ISS), the company offers customers fully-managed, end-to-end, security solutions that incorporate hardware, software, network infrastructure and management tools. For more information, visit www.apriva.com.

About MEI
MEI, headquartered in West Chester, Pa., holds the world's largest installed base of unattended payment systems, handling over two billion transactions per week in more than 100 countries. The company developed the first electronic coin mechanism in the 1960s, followed by the first electronic non-contact bill acceptor, and more recently its credit card capability and vending management solution. Recently, MEI reached a milestone of selling more than four million bill acceptors and five million coin mechanisms worldwide. Its products are in widespread use in the vending, soft drink, gaming, amusement, transport, retail, and kiosk markets. For more information on MEI and its products, visit www.meigroup.com or call 800-345-8215.

Apriva Contacts:
Robin Rotz
Apriva
480 421-1275
rrotz@apriva.com

John Stafford
Parallel Communications Group
515 708-1296
jstafford@parallelpr.com

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