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Leaders In Payments
Leaders In Payments
Revolutionizing Commerce: The Future of Self-Service Payments with Elyssa Steiner, CMO of Cantaloupe | Episode 368
Unlock the future of self-service payments as Elyssa Steiner, Chief Marketing Officer at Cantaloupe, joins us to uncover the latest innovations redefining the commerce landscape. Elyssa brings her extensive experience in marketing and self-service technology to our discussion, offering a compelling look at how Cantaloupe is leading the charge with cutting-edge payment solutions and analytics. We explore the profound shift towards cashless transactions, heightened by the global pandemic, and the ripple effects this has on consumer habits and business operations. From vending machines to futuristic smart stores on university campuses, Elyssa paints a vivid picture of a cashless world where convenience and technology go hand in hand.
Our conversation delves into the transformative power of AI and emerging technologies that are set to revolutionize consumer experiences and retail operations in 2025 and beyond. Discover how AI is making shopping more personalized through clever recommendations and dynamic pricing, while helping businesses optimize with predictive analytics and smarter inventory management. We're taking a close look at innovative technologies like weighted shelf systems and seamless mobile integration that promise frictionless payment experiences, particularly in entertainment venues. Elyssa shares insights on the challenges and triumphs of scaling these advanced solutions and how Cantaloupe continues to push the boundaries in retail technology. This is a must-listen for anyone intrigued by the evolving world of self-service commerce and the digital payment revolution.
Welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast, where we talk to C-level leaders from across the payments landscape. We'll be discussing the products and services that impact the payment space today, as well as trends and predictions for the future of payments. We will also hear stories from our guests about their journeys to the top.
Greg Myers:Hello everyone and welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast. I'm your host, greg Myers, and today's special guest is Alyssa Steiner, the Chief Marketing Officer at Cantaloupe. In today's episode, we're exploring the cutting edge trends reshaping payments and consumer experience in self-service retail, from AI driven innovation to technology simplifying both business operations and customer journeys. We'll look back at 2024 and dive into what's ahead in 2025. So with that, alyssa, thank you for being here and welcome to the show.
Elyssa Steiner:Thanks for having me.
Greg Myers:Greg. So let's dive right in. If you don't mind, let's talk about you a little bit first. So, before we get into the tech and the trends, tell us a bit about yourself and maybe how your journey led to what you're doing today at Cantaloupe.
Elyssa Steiner:Absolutely.
Elyssa Steiner:Thanks for asking.
Elyssa Steiner:So my journey really started with my career in marketing and sales, which really gave me a strong foundation and understanding kind of customer needs and matching that up with driving, you know, really kind of creative strategies that are tailored towards revenue results right, and over the years I've been fortunate to work in really diverse teams and different kind of industries, but all really revolving around self-service technology and consumer experiences.
Elyssa Steiner:So at Cantaloupe, like you said, I serve as our chief marketing officer where I lead the marketing efforts for our company and I truly believe like we're in this transformational state of self-service commerce and what excites me the most about my role is the intersection of technology, consumer behavior and business growth kind of all colliding and marketing really being a driving force of how are we going to market, how are we telling our story, how are we enabling self-service across new verticals that maybe have never explored that solution to connect to consumers historically but need to start evolving as the consumer needs are changing. So at Cantaloupe we're really focused around kind of enabling businesses and consumers alike with this sort of fast changing world powered by self-service retail, and I'm excited to be a part of the journey and I find it really rewarding. So looking forward to kind of diving in today on all the trends and what we're doing here at Cantaloupe.
Greg Myers:Great. So, for those that are new to Cantaloupe, can you give us a snapshot of how you're redefining self-service commerce today?
Elyssa Steiner:Yeah, absolutely. I think at Cantaloupe we're really focused on making self-service commerce smarter, simpler and just more efficient for businesses and consumers. If I say it in a really simple way, our platform integrates payment solutions, inventory management and analytics that really kind of enable what we call an operator or business owner to streamline their operations while they deliver these kind of seamless experiences to consumers. So I'll give you some examples, because I always find it easiest to just make it extremely relatable to our day to day, because I don't think we realize how much we interact with self-service or some people call autonomous retail experiences almost on a daily basis. So think about your everyday experiences. You're walking through an airport and you stop at a vending machine to grab a water, or you go to the gas station to put air in your tires, or you go through the drive-thru car wash and in all of those use cases I just mentioned, you probably want to use your debit or credit card reader and a all of those use cases I just mentioned, you probably want to use your debit or credit card reader and a lot of times you'll find our payment device on those types of solutions.
Elyssa Steiner:Another great example is on university campuses. You might see what we call smart stores and they're essentially like completely unmanned grab-and-go solutions where students can buy whether prepackaged meals, shampoos, snacks, and they're typically placed like in the dorm lobbies Again for businesses to know exactly what's happening at those locations, what are the buyer trends, how do I know when to go to it, to stock it with how much, how frequent, and we're really kind of doing that full end-to-end from the consumer experience and giving them these self-service solutions or ways to pay with digital payments, to then the businesses to being able to manage those assets within a geographic region or even nationally as well. So we're really kind of enabling self-service everywhere for both businesses and consumers alike.
Greg Myers:Okay, and I just think of how far this space has come since sort of the vending machine days right, where I mean I can remember where you actually used real money in vending machines and now I would say I mean you probably know the percentage, but all of them that I see now obviously take a debit or credit card.
Elyssa Steiner:Yeah, I mean it's interesting, through things like COVID and even just like, with younger generations becoming more within the buying realm of like our typical buyers today, contactless payments and digital payments really risen over the last handful of years. I mean, we're seeing some vending machines. Their total sales volumes might be 70, 80% cashless. There's even some that are upwards of 90%, based off of the demographic that uses that machine.
Elyssa Steiner:So if you don't have a card reader on a vending machine today, you're probably missing out on over 50% of the opportunity for sales. So it's really become such a way of life really for consumers to buy.
Greg Myers:Yeah, it really has. So, looking back at 2024, what were the standout innovations or trends in self-service payments that had the biggest impact, and did any of those really surprise you in any way?
Elyssa Steiner:Yeah, so in 2024, and I find this a little relatable to some of the innovations we've released and I know we'll dive into this a little bit more but smart stores became kind of a cornerstone for frictionless retail and I think what they really did we can touch on kind of what they are, but blending technology like AI and IoT to enable kind of these cashier-less autonomous experiences and they are sort of what they sound like a smart store right. They're closed, whether you want to think of they look like the size of coolers or cabinets, and then you present your payment to essentially unlock them, to start grabbing whatever you want. It knows exactly what you're taking and then it charges your card when you close and you just hit pay and walk away. So really kind of this evolution of what consumer experiences are going to look like when you close and you just hit pay and walk away. So really kind of this evolution of what consumer experiences are going to look like when you think about grab and go.
Elyssa Steiner:And the shift was really driven by labor shortages, demand for, like efficient retail models, and I think why these stood out is because the biggest challenge that retailers or operators have had as they've enabled more self-service solutions or self-checkout solutions over the last couple of years is how do I deal with theft and shrinkage?
Elyssa Steiner:And even in retail stores that don't have any self-checkout, they still have major theft issues right. And so trying to figure out how do I, if I want to enable self-service, how do I make sure as a business, I'm not opening up the door for theft? And the smart stores, with the technology that they use, has really been able to eliminate that. So I'm really excited about kind of what we're doing there and I'll give some examples as we kind of keep going and chatting. But I think there's just so much opportunity and it really kind of started taking off in the last handful of months, so in the back half of 2024. So really excited to kind of see the momentum, and I think a lot of this is also driven by just operators trying to solve, for how do we give what the customer wants, which is these frictionless checkout experiences, while still protecting our business? I think that's ultimately the fundamentals of where we'll see success when it comes to self-service, retail and solutions that really stick as we go into 2025.
Greg Myers:Retail and solutions that really stick as we go into 2025. And, from your perspective, how did the operators and the retailers adapt to these changes that you were talking about Like? What lessons can we take forward?
Elyssa Steiner:I was kind of touching on. I feel like we've really cracked the code here a little bit with smart stores, because we're seeing retail brands like US Patriot, which is a subsidiary of Galls, who tested previously a more vending-like solution it looked like a vending machine, maybe just a new, updated one, right and they really weren't seeing the results they wanted. Where they were attempting to place these. They have retail stores on military bases and then they wanted to place these solutions in other parts on the military base Maybe it's like a community hall or other areas within the base without having to, you know, pop up an entire storefront or have people man it and the labor associated to that. Right, how do we solve? For that is what they were attempting to do and they saw an opportunity.
Elyssa Steiner:They weren't really seeing the results they wanted and so we started working with them and they started rolling out smart stores and it's been pretty exciting to kind of see, because they're bringing this modern solution to these military bases and they're able to stock them with these kind of grab and go products.
Elyssa Steiner:But we're not talking about food and beverage anymore, right, we're talking about flashlights, gloves, t-shirts, batteries, like things that these folks need or they're commonly bought on a frequent basis.
Elyssa Steiner:Now they have 24-7 access at these other spots on the base where they're placing these smart stores, and so I think this is just one example where we're seeing more and more retail brands seeking to take these high foot traffic areas whether it's airports, transportation stations and figure out how do I bring my products to the consumer without having to pop up a whole retail storefront. And I think kind of the key lesson here is that if retailers aren't looking at self-service technology as a key way to expand their reach to buyers and consumers, then they are possibly on a path to like struggling to grow consumers. Then they are possibly on a path to like struggling to grow because commerce is really changing, whether it's online or in person. We need to be adapting as retailers and operators to figure out how do we meet the consumer where they want to buy, and in some cases, you see a lot of retail brands closing storefronts. I think it's about how do I pivot to get more where the consumer already is, versus asking them to come to me.
Greg Myers:Okay, so just a quick question on kind of some of the terminology You've mentioned operators and retailers Can you kind of define what is the difference, or is there a difference? How do you guys look at that?
Elyssa Steiner:So we call a lot of our customers operators. Really, they're the business owners that are managing the assets in the field, stocking them, and assets could be card readers on an air tire machine. It could be card readers on a vending machine and restocking it needing to know what to take. Card readers on a vending machine and restocking it needing to know what to take. Retailers the reason I mentioned them too is because they are essentially also operators, but retailers are starting to get more into the realm of wanting to enable self-service.
Elyssa Steiner:So they're not our typical customer today because they've always been manned type of solutions that they provide. So it really is one in the same. It's more so, just like the common nomenclature that we call operators today at Cantaloupe, and I would just say it's one in the same as retailer operator. But yeah, I think retailers are now becoming these kind of self-service operators as they start to explore these other types of technologies and solutions to get in front of customers.
Greg Myers:Okay, that makes sense. You mentioned AI, and barely do we ever have a conversation on a podcast without mentioning AI. But as we look into 2025, where do you see AI making the biggest impact? Maybe talk about it on the consumer side and or helping businesses run more efficiently.
Elyssa Steiner:Yeah, I think it's important to first touch on where AI comes into play for both consumers and businesses. On consumers, ai is really kind of powering these personalized shopping experiences, whether it's product recommendations or adapting kind of pricing models based off of what the consumer is doing or acting, and technologies like visual recognition enabling seamless kind of product selection. And then on the operator side, ai is really helping with predictive analytics and forecasting and reducing kind of out of stock. So they're always kind of optimizing to minimize waste but then optimizing to serve the consumer right. So where do I see AI really making the biggest impact In 2025, I think we're going to see it continue to really drive the way businesses serve consumers. I feel like there is so much opportunity and just it's already progressed so well and being able to enable businesses to better serve the consumer, use data and forecasting and what's happening in other places to give the right kind of business recommendations. To give the right kind of business recommendations, I think on the consumer side, I think there's still work to be done.
Elyssa Steiner:When I think of self-service retail specifically, I've seen some solutions in these smart, cooler concepts where they use only AI cameras and it can be challenging to really crack the code on being able to solve for theft, like consumers are still kind of figuring out how do I trick the system and we only rely on the cameras. Even some of these I won't name the brand, but a large brand that does these go stores that might imply who I'm talking about has struggled with like charging the consumer correctly, the camera actually picking up all the products that the customer picked up right, and there's hundreds of cameras in these fully unmanned little stores and it's still struggling. So I think there's refinement there and there's continued innovation there to again, the only way that stuff's going to scale is if it continues to make sure it's solving for minimizing any opportunity of theft. Now, when you combine AI cameras with weighted shelf technology, which we use, the weighted shelf technology on our smart stores, you start to get a pretty proven system in 2025. Again, as we refine kind of AI camera technology in 2025, what I see in the beginning of this new year is really going to be around.
Elyssa Steiner:How do I leverage both to really make sure again, I'm giving a great consumer experience, but I'm making sure that the business, the owner, the operator, the retailer they are able to fully trust and rely on that self-service technology to make sure that they're not only optimizing that little mini storefront but they're also not running into issues of theft, and I think, if you can solve for that, I think that's where we'll really see in 2025 kind of the continued evolution around that consumer experience. That AI will need more work on the consumer side, but I think there's definitely a path forward. But the business side 100%. I think there's so much already opportunity there and I think that's really where it's at out the gate in 2025, where businesses probably don't even realize how they can leverage it to help them be smarter.
Greg Myers:Okay, so beyond AI, what emerging technologies like weighted shelves or mobile integration are poised to transform the payment and shopping experiences?
Elyssa Steiner:Yeah, that's what I get really excited about, because I think, when it comes to payments, we are really striving at CamelUp to create these frictionless consumer experiences. So solutions like weighted shelf technology that we use in our smart stores are really proving to not only create kind of an easy buying experience but, coupled with the accuracy of knowing exactly what is taken down to I'm talking even the smalls like a breath mint packed so it can detect up to 15 grams, which is so small, and charging the consumer exactly what they picked I think that this is going to be such a reliable solution and technology that we're excited about to continue to roll out in 2025. When it comes to mobile kind of integration, I think about the evolution that's occurring today in stadiums and entertainment venues and even with cantaloupes, like our POS solutions that we do in these spaces. We're heavily focused on enabling the consumer to never miss a moment. We always say that, right, like, never miss a moment.
Elyssa Steiner:And how do you do that? Well, what if I could allow you, with a QR code, to sit seamlessly, order at your seat and then be able to have an in-seat delivery all from your phone? Right Now you're saying, okay, I go to a baseball game or a concert or a comedy show, and I can order that beer and that hot dog and it's brought to my seat in five to 10 minutes. Now that's pretty amazing. I did this, actually I tested our own solution when I was at a Miami Marlins game over the summer and it was not only like extremely easy, but it was pretty cool. I could just sat there, popped it up on my phone, ordered what I wanted, came right to my seat and I want to say it was like five minutes.
Elyssa Steiner:So you talk about the ability to again like create these experiences for consumers. At the end of the day, you're eliminating friction, you're eliminating the need to have to get up, to have to go do something to then get what I want Right, and so what makes my job so fun and what we're doing at Cantaloupe is this really kind of transformative self-service commerce, and it can come in so many different ways in the examples I even gave. But it's really exciting that, even just beyond AI kind of where payments and shopping experiences are going and how it's not only helping me as a consumer but so many of kind of the future of what payments is going to look like.
Greg Myers:Yeah, I love those examples you gave. I mean, we've come such a long way on those kinds of things to make them so frictionless, but do you see any challenges or roadblocks to implement these kind of solutions in the future?
Elyssa Steiner:momentum. Then you talk about the challenge of scale, right, and when businesses are trying to scale something, they then start to need it to integrate into the rest of their ecosystem. So I feel like it's a natural trajectory that's going to occur, right, like, okay, how do we just continue to refine integration work? But I think the other part too is sometimes we forget, while there is a slew of consumers that love mobile payments, mobile wallets and are so tech savvy, there are a lot of consumers don't need to name generations but there are a lot that aren't comfortable with that type of technology. And so there's this little piece of making sure we're always educating the consumer of how to actually interact with that specific solution.
Elyssa Steiner:You know, we saw a smart store go into a senior living facility. Now it's doing great, but again, different demographic. And there was this part of actually having to a couple of things having to educate them. One, to carry their credit card with them, because they don't normally do that when they're walking around their facility. Right, because everything's kind of just like.
Elyssa Steiner:You know, they go to the lunch hall and don't need to take their card. So if they wanted to go shop at the smart store, they would need to make sure they had their card on them, but then also just like how easy it was to use and sometimes with that specific demographic, it can be intimidating. So I think while we all get so excited about the self-service technology and what we're doing, we have to always kind of stay grounded in the sense of you know who are we serving and that variety of people that we're serving in specific environments, and making sure that we're providing the right level of education so that they can have, at the end of the day, that seamless grab-and-go experience and feel confident when making those purchases.
Greg Myers:Yeah, makes a lot of sense. So how do these technologies align with Cantaloupe's mission to create these seamless commerce experiences?
Elyssa Steiner:Yeah, I've mentioned this kind of throughout our discussion today. But Kindle Hub we remain really steadfast in our mission to enable seamless commerce for both operators and consumers, and whether that's combining payment innovations with the operational tools to ultimately, at the end of the day, reduce their costs to run their business but increase their revenue opportunities. And so I really feel like a great example of us and kind of continuing to strive towards our mission is our recent release of our smart stores. I think we're excited about the momentum but the fact that it's really proving to bring both of those pieces seamless kind of consumer experiences, with the ability to eliminate theft and keep you know there's no labor associated to like manning it. But we're seeing it go into a variety of new locations that historically either just weren't great maybe for vending, or they've had vending but they weren't really great sales, or they would place a micro market, which is an open shelf concept, and they deal with potential theft issues.
Elyssa Steiner:So we're seeing smart stores go into residential complexes to provide as a service to their tenants and you can stock them with anything so you think about like pet treats, because a lot of people own pets these days, or laundry detergent, right the things kind of that you don't want to, especially me as a female at.
Elyssa Steiner:You know, let's say, nine o'clock at night, leave my apartment complex and go to the convenience store two blocks down the road and walk down there to go get laundry detergent, right. So like bringing that convenience is becoming an amenity to not only for the residential complex but then also it's just giving a great consumer experience for me as a tenant. But we're also seeing smart stores in auto dealerships Again, while you're waiting to get your oil change and you need a snack or whatever it might be. Gyms and recreational facilities there's one where just rents pickleball paddles and balls at a pickleball court facility, which is really cool, right, like you can really kind of accommodate these smart stores to provide a variety of kind of products for consumers. And so I'm really just excited about how not only does this align to our mission, but I think it's really this evolution of kind of creating more and more self-service commerce experiences that at the end of the day, are reliable and secure and easy for the consumer.
Greg Myers:Okay, great. So, as we wrap up the show today, what's your advice for businesses looking to stay ahead of the curve in the self-service payment space?
Elyssa Steiner:I think it's really simple. It's invest in flexible technology solutions that can adapt as consumer preferences evolve, but really focusing in on making sure it fits within your business in the sense of can it give you some operational efficiencies at the same time? Because at the end of the day, you're not going to scale it if you can't have that. So it's really kind of got to balance two factors there the consumer side and the operator business owner side. But I would say, like, take risks but make them smart, calculated risks right. Like commerce is changing and I talked about this earlier, but self-service is such a preference for many buyers because they want it when they want it and then they want it fast, convenient and easy. So I think, whether it's solutions we're providing at Cantaloupe or other companies around self-service, I'm excited to kind of dive deeper and see how we continue to evolve in leveraging things like AI to make it easier for business owners and the consumer alike, and I think there's so much opportunity.
Elyssa Steiner:I just would say a lot of businesses need to really be thinking about what's the next stage that consumers want to be making purchases, and a lot of it revolves around kind of self-service. So how can I do this where they are, versus trying to get them to come to me, and so that would be my only piece of advice is to really think about taking those kind of calculated risks. But we're seeing such success with some of these retailers that are jumping in and looking at new ways to kind of expand their business without really costing them anything crazy, like it would be to cost to pop up an entire new store. So that would be kind of my piece of advice, and sort of what I foresee is kind of the evolution of what's occurring kind of in front of us right now.
Greg Myers:Yeah, yeah, I think that's great advice, and you know I've been in payments for a long time and have kept up with this space over the years, and you know I just love the unique ideas and never would have thought 10 years ago that you would see some of this self-service stuff that you see today. It's just amazing how it's matured, and Cantaloupe has been right there in the middle of it for many, many years. So, alyssa, thank you so much for sharing all of your insights on how this technology is reshaping payments and the whole retail experience. Really, so thank you so much for being on the show. I know your time is incredibly valuable, so thank you, and I really appreciate you being on today.
Elyssa Steiner:Yeah, thank you for having me, Greg. It's always a pleasure and great chatting with you.
Greg Myers:And to all you listeners out there. I thank you for your time as well, and until the next story.
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