Release Details

USA Technologies Announces Upgrades to Its Market Leading ePort Connect Service Platform

December 13, 2013

Upgrades Reflect Fifteen Plus Years of Customer-Driven Innovation and a Long-Term Commitment to Value-Added Services for Self-Serve Retail Market

MALVERN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- USA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: USAT), ("USAT") a provider of wireless, cashless payment and M2M telemetry solutions for self-serve retail industries such as vending, commercial laundry, amusement and kiosk today announced broad-based enhancements to its "one-stop" service, ePort Connect®. The enhancements further position USAT customers for the emerging trends in mobile payment, consumer engagement programs such as loyalty and rewards and expanded use of operational data as self-serve retail businesses continue to develop a valued network of connected, cashless payment consumer touchpoints in the years ahead.

Recent enhancements include:

  • New features added to USAT's recently launched prepaid and loyalty program, MORE.;
  • Added capability of the ePort Connect platform to accept mobile payment with mobile-based rewards;
  • Micro-market and other cashless payment applications that expand USAT's ePort Connect service to a broader audience;
  • A host of new features to ePort Connect's customer reporting portal, USALive®; and
  • Release of ePort Mobile™ versions 2.0, for both IOS and Android smartphones and tablets, for customers who have the need for mobile payment acceptance.

"USAT has been providing cashless payment and telemetry solutions in self-serve retail markets for more than a decade, so the capabilities and scale we've created in this area now allow us to dedicate a great deal of our development work to value-added services that expand opportunities for our customers," said Cary M. Sagady, USAT's senior vice president of product management and network services.

"This latest wave of enhancements reflects our view that a networked cashless platform can provide immeasurable benefits to self-serve retail. Whether the opportunity lies in mobile or card-based loyalty programs, greater flexibility to connect to our service via QuickConnect™, or the operational and telemetry data available to them through our service, our goal is to ensure that our customers are poised to take advantage of those opportunities," said Sagady.

MORE., USAT's new loyalty and prepaid program launched in August, has been improved for customer campaign management and now includes:

  • Recurring campaigns,
  • Replenish bonus; and,
  • Bonus cash rewards.

Through MORE., USAT customers have an opportunity to win and/or retain existing accounts through differentiated programs that can build loyalty, repeat business and a greater understanding of their consumers' purchasing preferences.

Mobile payment: New technology created for USAT's ePort® G-series of cashless acceptance devices accommodates loyalty data in tandem with mobile payment, such as the Isis SmartTap® technology for contactless payments, loyalty and rewards.

  • Recent over-the-air updates delivered via the ePort Connect service allow USAT customers to participate in what USAT believes to be the largest mobile payment and loyalty promotion ever developed for the U.S. vending industry, the "Fifth Purchase Free" promotion. USAT has already enabled over 62,000 locations and is targeting at least 80,000.

Micro-market and other payment integration. Through USAT's web service, QuickConnect, more self-serve retail applications have the opportunity to use ePort Connect.

  • For USAT's vending customers, USAT recently announced that customers of Revive Self Checkout can now seamlessly integrate their micro-market credit and debit card processing with their other cashless locations supported by USAT.

USALive: Users of ePortConnect's web-based reporting portal, USALive, are benefiting from new features that give them more flexibility to optimize the operational and telemetry data collected from their networked cashless locations, including:

  • The ability to create product specific column mapping, or planograms, on their own. For example, customers can optimize MDB data to generate reports down to the product level to optimize space to sales per machine or customer.
  • New reporting features such as export format options, improved flexibility for saving custom-designed reports, new validation functionality to ensure reliable report delivery, as well as the ability to display column pricing on reports provide enhanced customer control of operational data for use in their business.
  • Control over the timing of DEX file transfers, giving customers utilizing vending management systems greater freedom to optimize time sensitive data at the fulfillment level.
  • The ability to control and edit device settings, enabling customers to fine-tune machine characteristics to specific locations and client needs. Examples include maximum amount per vend, single vend versus multi-vend settings, the ability to enable or disable two-tier pricing and, for pulse customers (such as amusement & arcade), the ability to set pricing remotely.
  • New DEX exception reports help business owners better manage operational issues by assessing DEX connectivity within the machine as well as expanded machine error detection for issues such as coin or bill jams.
  • Display of pending electronic fund transfers, for improved cash management.
  • Faster report generation and broader device search capabilities.

Mobile acceptance: USAT's ePort Mobile solution allows customers to accept cashless payment via mobile devices.

  • ePort Mobile versions 2.0 for IOS and Android smartphones and tablets were recently released and are available for download on the iTunes app or Google play store, respectively. Enhancements to ePort Mobile include an entirely new, intuitive user interface, full transaction history, mapping features and receipt customization options.

ePort Connect is a PCI-compliant, end to end suite of cashless payment and telemetry services specially tailored to fit the needs of self-serve retail industries. Services offered through ePort Connect include wireless and merchant account setup, wireless, simplified processing rates, settlement and reconciliation, 24 x 7 customer service and a host of value-added services. For more information, contact USAT sales at 1-800-633-0340.

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, ePort Mobile™ for customers on the go, and QuickConnect™, an API Web service for developers. USA Technologies has been granted 86 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 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, the ability of USAT to compete with its competitors to obtain market share; whether USAT's customers continue to utilize USAT's transaction processing and related services, as our customer agreements are generally cancelable by the customer on thirty to sixty days' notice; whether USAT's existing or anticipated customers utilize our cashless payment services in the future at levels currently anticipated by USAT; the ability of USAT to use available data to accurately predict future market conditions, consumer behavior and any level of cashless usage; the level of demand in the market for USAT's QuickConnect service when integrated with other applications such as the Revive Self Checkout; the ability of USAT to obtain widespread commercial acceptance of its programs and services, including its loyalty and prepaid programs; whether, and to what extent, prepaid and loyalty programs will result in increased sales; and the possibility that all of the expected benefits from adoption of cashless payment and prepaid and loyalty programs, including any sales uplift, will not be realized by all customers, or will not be realized within the expected time period. 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, Inc.
Veronica Rosa
VP Corporate Communications & Investor Relations
484-359-2138
vrosa@usatech.com

Source: USA Technologies, Inc.

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