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P U B L I S H E R ' S N O T E B Y M O N I Q U E T E R R A Z A S AUTOMATIC MERCHANDISER EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Scott Guardino Paramount Automated Food Service Pompano Beach, Fla. Randy Parks ProStar Services West Carrollton, Texas Paul Shlossberg DFW Consulting Goshen, N.Y. Brad Ellis Crane Merchandising Systems St. Louis, Mo. Tom Siciliano Integrity Recruiting & Consulting Inc. Huntley, Ill. Tom Britten Britten Management Services Zephyrhills, Fla. Brad Bachtelle Bachtelle & Associates Inc. Tustin, Calif. Glenn Butler CTO Services LLC Boston, Mass. Joe Hessling 365 Retail Markets Troy, MI Paul Schindelar Mondelez International East Hanover, N.J. Chuck Reed MEI Malvern, Pa. Anant Agrawal Cantaloupe Systems San Francisco, Calif. Is mobile a gamble? Slow adoption won't keep this technology from becoming widespread. Operators need to be ready. uestion. Who is sick and tired of hear- ing how great technology is? Who wishes we were back to only accepting cash as the form of payment? Weren't things so much easier then? I must admit that there are times when I think times are changing much too fast. Seems like there is a new technology out there every 5 minutes nowadays doesn't it? So it's no wonder why as a business owner, it can seem like quite a daunting task when deciding how to move our businesses forward. I'd be willing to pay top dollar on a guaranteed sure thing, but unfortunately, there's no such thing as a sure thing when it comes to business. Here is what we know for sure. Those who are willing to take an educated risk in their businesses tend to have more success than those who make no changes from year to year. The latest technology that is getting all the focus lately is the use of mobile pay- ments. Since the NAMA OneShow, I don't think there has been a week that has gone by where someone hasn't asked me what my thoughts are on mobile payments. There are mil- lions if not billions of dollars spent by companies to develop the mobile payment solution that consumers will hands down use. We've even covered some of those investments in Vending- MarketWatch Today. Education: key to mobile I read an article published on Banking-Business- Review.com that said that despite a ton of fnan- cial backing, consumers have been fairly slow to adopt mobile payments. I'm not really surprised nor discouraged by this fnding at all. I personally believe that the U.S. market is still in the infancy of mobile payment. There's a lot of education that still needs to be done. I know that there is a lot of focus on catering to Millennials, but if you've read any of the characteristics of Millennials, you'd fnd that they are a generation that doesn't trust blindly and is very skeptical. In fact, their characteristics can be quite similar to that of Baby Boomers. They also are price conscious and look at getting the best value. According to the Banking-Business-Review article, analytics and loyalty will drive the growth of mobile payments. The article further stated that of mobile payment app users, 53 percent report they've either used or are interested in redeeming offers and coupons with their hand- sets. I think this will be a key component to mobile payment app acceptance in the future. I think it will certainly appeal to Millennials' needs of getting the best value for the price they pay. We've already reported on successful rewards programs like Starbucks and McDonald's, and I just believe that we'll see the same type of trends in vending. So I think that once mobile payment providers really educate the benefts of their technology to the consumer audience, you'll see adoption gain quickly and the preferred apps. Don't wait for widespread use So have I solved what do to with mobile pay- ments in our industry? Hardly. However, I don't believe that mobile payments are something that you can ignore until acceptance is widespread. I think our industry still needs to learn how consumers are adapting and using mobile pay- ments in their day-to-day lives. I also think that our industry must understand the buying habits of its consumers in different locations, identify trends and discover the possible opportunities. The best part of it all? You're not alone. Partner with your VMS, cashless and mobile payment providers. They are a wealth of knowledge. Also, look for more articles on this topic as it relates to the industry in future issues of Automatic Merchandiser and VendingMarketWatch.com. Q MOBILE payment is in its infancy. 8 Automatic Merchandiser VendingMarketWatch.com September 2014