Data Trends Point to Incremental Revenue Opportunities and Increased Consumer Preference for Cashless

MALVERN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- USA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: USAT), ("USAT") a leader of wireless, cashless payment and M2M telemetry solutions for small-ticket, self-serve retailing industries, today released data from its 2013 Cashless Knowledge Base that demonstrates how a cashless payment platform can be instrumental in driving additional revenues. One of the highlights of this year's study was a Sales Trend analysis that showed a 28% increase in average revenues and 23% increase in average transactions for a dataset of approximately 10,000 vending terminals over a twelve month period.

USAT's Knowledge Base represents cash and cashless payment data collected from its ePort Connect® service network—a network that processes over $200 million in cashless, self-serve retail transactions annually. The 2013 Knowledge Base is designed to help customers optimize their cashless payment platforms and includes various subsets of vending machine activity that can be used to gauge incremental revenue post cashless installation, average transaction metrics and channel information.

Mike Lawlor, USAT's Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Development, unveiled key data from the 2013 Cashless Knowledge Base at this year's NAMA OneShow in Las Vegas. Lawlor commented, "Our customers no longer question whether consumer demand is trending toward the use of cashless forms of payment; rather, the bigger question we try to address is: ‘Can it help my business results and if so, how?' The data, noted below from the Sales Trend analysis, presents a positive story. We are not just seeing cashless sales and volume increase over time, as last year's study pointed to, but we are seeing growth in cash sales as well. In our view, that tells us that cashless is doing more than just replacing cash—it's bringing in business."

12-Month Study

The data used for the Sales Trend Analysis, consisted of qualifying data from approximately 10,000 cashless vending terminals with data tracking beginning the first month after installation. Qualifying data was defined as data from cashless deployments that started after 12/31/2010, generated at least $1,000 in cashless sales by the end of the 12-month period following installation and had at least 12 months of data available.

Highlights:

• 28% increase in average monthly vending sales (credit and cash), fueled by 79% increase in credit sales; 17% increase in cash sales.
• 23% increase in average monthly vending transactions (credit and cash), fueled by 74% increase in credit transactions; 15% increase in cash transactions.

3-Month Study

USAT also evaluated data over a three month period, from January-March 2013, from approximately 62,000 ePort Connect cashless vending terminals that had at least $500 a year in annualized cashless sales.

Highlights:

• The average credit "spend" was 30% higher than a cash vend.
• The rate of cashless usage more than doubled for a $3 transaction compared to a $1.00 transaction.

Conclusion

"In our view, a cashless payment platform can prove to be one of the most impactful investments a business can make," continued Lawlor. "With the onset of mobile payment, new loyalty programs and major beverage companies like Coca-Cola recently talking with the NFC Times about the importance of cashless (view article), we believe there is no better time to plan for widespread cashless adoption. In fact, a recent NAMA OneShow recap published by Emily Refermat, Editor of Automatic Merchandiser (view blog), reinforces USAT's view that business owners and operators in our market segment should move quickly to benefit from the 'cashless effect' today." In her blog, Ms. Refermat states:

"There was a time, not too long ago, that technology was just for the front runners or large businesses, but now, it's become a necessity for many more operations. Vending to manufacturing facilities and huge end user populations is just a memory. To survive in this environment, operators need to run their businesses smarter, more efficiently and over deliver to be successful."

USAT believes the trends indicated in the 2013 Cashless Knowledge Base, as well as statements such as those appearing in the NFC Times and Automatic Merchandiser above, combined, are encouraging indicators regarding future adoption of cashless payment in the vending industry.

For more information on USAT's 2013 Cashless Knowledge Base, contact a USA Technologies sales representative at 1-800-633-0340. Existing customers can also request customized reports which enable them to track individual performance against USAT's Cashless Knowledge Base metrics.

Disclaimer:

USAT does not endorse, take responsibility for, or make any representations or warranties in connection with the aforementioned article or blog and is supplying the hyperlinks to the blog and article solely for the reader's general industry information.

About USA Technologies:

USA Technologies is a leader of wireless, cashless payment and M2M telemetry solutions for small-ticket, self-serve retailing industries. ePort Connect® is the company's flagship service platform, a PCI-compliant, end-to-end suite of cashless payment and telemetry services specially tailored to fit the needs of small ticket, self-service retailing industries. USA Technologies also provides a broad line of cashless acceptance technologies including its NFC-ready ePort® G8-G10, ePort Mobile™ for customers on the go, and QuickConnect™, an API Web service for developers. USA Technologies has been granted 85 patents; and has agreements with Verizon, Visa, Elavon and customers such as Compass, Crane, AMI Entertainment and others. Visit the website at www.usatech.com.

Forward-looking Statements:

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including without limitation the financial position, anticipated connections to our network, business strategy and the plans and objectives of USAT's management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this release, words such as "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend", and similar expressions, as they relate to USAT or its management, identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of USAT's management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to USAT's management. Actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including but not limited to, business, financial market and economic conditions; the ability of USAT to use its Knowledge Base to accurately predict future market conditions and consumer behavior; the ability of the Knowledge Base or USAT to predict any level of incremental revenues or net operating profit for any particular location or vending machine; the possibility that all of the expected benefits from adoption of cashless payment and wireless telemetry, including incremental revenues and profits, will not be realized by vending operators, or will not be realized within the expected time period; and whether, and to what extent, new innovations in mobile payment technologies will result in increased sales. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this release speaks only as of the date of this release. Unless required by law, USAT does not undertake to release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

G-USAT

USA Technologies
Veronica Rosa, 484-359-2138
VP Corp. Comm. & Investor Relations
vrosa@usatech.com

Source: USA Technologies, Inc.

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