The Perks
Of Pre-Pay
By Adrienne Zimmer, Managing Editor
The advantages of implementing pre-paid micro
market accounts far exceed liability and security
concerns that accompany them.
he benefts of operating a micro
market include the ability to offer
fresh food, to provide larger sizes
and a wider variety of products and,
in most cases, favorable revenues. In
fact, NAMA data reports that the
average micro market sales per opera-
tor are $427,500 per year. Yet there
is one outstanding perk of the micro
market that gets overlooked: pre-paid
micro market accounts.
Most micro market providers
offer pre-paid account solutions (also
known as stored value accounts)
where users simply log into their spe-
cifc account and are prompted to load
funds using cash or credit/debit for
future use at the micro market. Ways
to access those pre-paid accounts can
include physical micro market cards,
key tags, employee badges with linked
micro market accounts, pin codes and
passwords, and biometrics such as fn-
gerprints.
For the micro market user, pre-
paid purchases can result in loyalty
points that lead to future rewards.
For the micro market operator,
pre-paid accounts provide a plethora
of benefts that include minimized
card processing fees, increased con-
sumer engagement and loyalty, higher
spending per transaction than cash
and being paid in advance of the
purchase. The perks of operating
pre-paid micro market accounts far
exceed the liabilities and challenges
that accompany them.
Free up capital
One of the most important factors
of pre-paid market accounts is that
in most cases, micro market provid-
ers allow the operator to receive the
T
''
One of the biggest struggles in vending
and OCS for years — for both small and
large operators — is creating cash fow.
With account balances in micro
markets we are fnally able to
remove some of this burden.
''
Kevin Searcy, president of deORO Markets and owner of vending/OCS
company Golden Brew Beverage
18 Automatic Merchandiser VendingMarketWatch.com August 2015
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