How to engage users with promotional tools, create new shopping experiences and increase revenues
Friday Coffee: what is it?
On Friday 17 July, MatiPay kicked off the first cycle of remote meetings for vending sector: at each appointment a different topic is addressed and experience and know-hows shared on how to digitize and improve business processes in automatic retail.
Participation in the “Friday Coffee” is free and the duration of the meetings is 1 hour.
The theme of the first meeting was “How to increase revenues in vending”, an appointment led by Giovanna Voltolina, General Manager of MatiPay, and Francesco Liuzzi, Operation Manager.
Giovanna Voltolina shared some sector data, exposed real case studies to highlight how the use of promotional leverage in the field of automatic retail can lead to a consequent increase in turnover and in the number of consumers.
The automatic retail sector can be observed from different points of view (logistics, service, etc.) without forgetting, however, that it is the most widespread retail network in the world and also the best distributed!
This vision makes the sector increasingly interesting, enhancing its potential, making it comparable to the logic of purchasing behavior of large-scale distribution, specialized chains and stores.
In these areas, the revenues generated by the use of promotional activities are around 30% of the total, a value now consolidated by market analyzes provided by the largest statistical institutes.
The study conducted by IPSOS, available for Confida affiliates, illustrates the elements of attraction and repulsion between users and non-users of the vending machines. The study shows that the price of products is always in first place both among users and non-users.
The objective of the event is to demonstrate how it is possible to meet the needs of consumers without having to settle on a constant lower price, a practice widely spread on other consumption channels.
The case studies demonstrate how important it is to diversify the promotional proposal by also managing its activation times, thus avoiding long-term or promotions too close among them.
The case studies shared during the first Friday Coffee are the result of an ad hoc analysis work, done by the team of MatiPay data scientists, who analyzed promotions involving over 100,000 users, the study of consumer purchasing behavior “pre-promo” and “post-promo” directs promotional efforts and pressure.
The MatiPay team defined the promotional strategy and vending operators without any operational effort were able to benefit from the advantages, receiving 360° support from activation to the analysis of results.
Contact us to learn about the case studies and get more information on the real examples shared during the meeting
Promotions: an interesting opportunity
The MatiPay solution has various promotional types and it is possible to configure them directly from the Web App, the MatiPay management application, in a simple and fast way.
As Francesco points out, the choice of which promotion to set passes from defining the goal and analyzing the historical data. The data analysis team evaluates consumption levels by observing the “pre-promo” behavior so as to activate, directly from the Web App, targeted and effective promotions, with concrete effects on the increase in revenues. Following the activation of the promotion, the promotional KPIs established are constantly monitored and the economic return is assessed.
Promotions can be set up without configuration interventions on the machine. You can launch promotions on specific user clusters, on selected offices, vending machines and also on specific products.
The analysis of purchasing behavior allows us to get to know consumers more and more, the in-depth knowledge of the behavior offers the possibility of activating promotions in line with business objectives and consumer expectations.
For example, you can set up promotions to reward the frequency of purchase or to reward the most loyal users, you can activate the “STARS” loyalty initiative.
Friday Coffee Q&A
How do I select the most fitting promotion for my goal?
Thanks to the support of the Data Scientists, it is possible to know the behavior of the user base and activate the promotion in line with the objectives.
To engage consumers and distinguish themselves from other payment systems, it is possible to activate a welcome promotion and / or the loyalty program.
Welcome promotions immediately demonstrate the advantage and begin to create direct communication with consumers.
Before activating the promotion, it is necessary to evaluate user behavior and the level of spending and consumption, in this way it will be possible to identify the promotional mix suitable for the target audience.
Thanks to this analysis it is possible to avoid dispersion of promotional budgets by directing efforts on specific targets, as also highlighted by the Ipsos study for Confida, it is possible to set up promotions to increase the frequency of purchase on occasional consumers, instead of setting massive promotions on all users and include also high-spending users, causing thus a reduction of margins.
MatiPay supports you in all phases from installation of systems on the vending machine to support in the definition and activation of promotions, everything always starts with the behavior of the “no-promo” consumer only in this way the most effective promotions will be activated
If I have special commercial conditions, for example free vends, can I use your system to provide them?
Absolutely yes, thanks to the flexibility of MatiPay it is also possible to activate the particular contractual conditions.
The platform is fully configurable and the operator can enter the configure any promotional features. The vending operator can indicate how many free vends to provide, on which vending machines or specific selections, in which time slots and if necessary also for which consumers. The MatiPay Web App, in addition to free vends, also allows to configure promotions in “discount” mode, always with the utmost agility and flexibility. It is always possible to define whether the promotion is cumulative or not.
It is possible to export, directly from the Web App, the reports on the vends, so to be able to manage the billing between operator and company. The operator can decide also to open the Web App to their clients, in order to allow them to view the reports in real time.
Is it possible to have information regarding the “Cashback” activities for consumers who use machines such as trash compactors and shredders?
Machines such as “trash compactors” and “shredders” have a proprietary protocol on which we began the working about 6/7 months ago.
Our system allows interfacing with these machines allowing the consumer to take advantage of the “cashback”.
Consumers who purchase, for example, bottles of water at vending machines can receive back some credit if they use the trash compactors in the premises where they purchased the product.
The reverse vending machine will pay out the expected credit only if the purchased product is recognized, it will therefore not be possible to dispose of any type of product inside the compactor.
We are also carrying out these integrations and certainly we have the possibility to extend the product to these contexts as well.
Suggestions for the most suitable strategies for the creation of promotional pricing to be proposed based on lists of selected users
MatiPay is a Cashless – slave system, and the price is set on the master payment system, but many promotional and discount logic can be activated, so it becomes possible to change the price of the products dynamically. All this always passes from the analysis of consumer consumption, to the analysis of the average expenditure, evaluation of the average receipt, what category of product users buy, with what means they top up the wallet.
Sharing platforms are a functional tool for transmitting information and stimulating needs, how to make the most of them in this situation and make them communicate with consumers and vending machines?
Thanks to the consumer app it is possible to establish a direct relationship with consumers and in fact in recent months many operators have exploited the potential of apps to communicate with their users.
Some operators have honored consumers, who have been always present despite the lockdown period, with free hot drinks.
All this in the Web App is realized with advertising promotions which also allows the activation of communication campaigns with broader objectives than the vending sector.
When the product is not delivered with the app, how do you return the money to the end user?
Consumers who make purchases using the virtual wallet in the app, in the event of a failed payment will be reimbursed directly to the app. The internal telemetry module transmits the information to the app which re-credits the amount in real time.
Can you sell two products that together give a discount?
Yes, it is possible: this type of promotion is called a “combo”, it is therefore possible to set two linked purchasing actions which then unlock discounts on a selected product or on both of them.
Who monitors the active promotions?
The activated promotions are monitored in real time by the data analysis team. Based on the promo objective, they first identify the target and analyze its purchasing behavior.
Subsequently, the most suitable promotion is configured and the economic return is assessed. The promotions allow you to activate communication thanks to push notifications that update consumers on your marketing activities.
Does the promotion data arrive in real time?
All data present on the Web App is transmitted in real time, thanks to the communication with the telemetry module. The telemetry module, in addition to transferring data on sales, also transfers data on diagnostics in this way you always have real time information about your vending machines.
