Retail Automation – Carlyle Group invests US$85 million in vending machine operator Ubox to tap China’s evolving e-commerce boom

Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest buyout funds, said on Thursday it will invest US$85 million in Ubox to help expand the Chinese vending machine operator’s network and give consumers a better-quality service. …

Source: www.scmp.com

For several years, Ubox’s customers have been able to shop online via its mobile app and collect their drinks or snacks from its network of interactive vending machines, which now number over 30,000 and are spread across 58 Chinese cities. 

Recyclers and ATM Solution Now in Trial

Recycling cash is a retail automation cornerstone.  Handling cash is its own cost and needs to be lowered.  Article points out new install of ATM with recycler.

If you’ve been around the ATM industry during the last several years, you will have heard a lot about cash recycling technology. But if you’ve been around the industry in the U.S., you won’t have seen it deployed. At all.

Some in the industry believe that this is bound to change; Elan Financial Services and Nautilus Hyosung America say that, in fact, change has begun already.

Example of Cash Recycler

Example of Cash Recycler

Last month, the two companies announced their collaboration on what they believe to be the first cash recycling system installation in the U.S. on behalf of a bank based in Flushing, Queens, home to New York City’s fourth largest business district.

The bank, which chooses to remain anonymous, introduced cash recycling as part of a branch reboot, and chose the Nautilus Hyosung MX8800 cash recycler to meet the purpose.

An EMV-enabled unit, the MX8800 features a 24-inch upper screen and a 15-inch lower touch screen on the consumer-facing side and a 15-inch operator panel on the back of the machine. The device is equipped with five configurable cassettes for multidenomination bank note dispense and deposit.

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The truth about the death of cash

In the US, cash in circulation grew 42% between 2007 and 2012 (Credit: Getty Images)

Source: www.bbc.com

Read the entire article on bbc.com —  It’s tempting to forecast the demise of cash. In fact, people have been predicting the end for physical money for nearly 60 years. With the rise of credit cards, contactless payments and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin the death knells  have only gotten louder. 

The Netherlands is an interesting case study to look at more closely, because their retail sector has recently embraced card payments in a big way. There are now 1,400 supermarkets in the Netherlands with registers that don’t accept cash.

In the UK, half the transactions by consumers in 2013 were with cash

As a result, card payments in the Netherlands have been growing by about 7 to 8% annually over the past few years. And yet, cash is still king. In 2012, there were 2.7 billion card payments, but an estimated 3.5 to 4 billion payments were made with cash. “Even in supermarkets which all accept debit cards, cash is still used heavily,” Jonker says. “For the time being we think cash will keep on having an important role.”
 
Studies of other nations tie in with these finding

Merchant Acquirers Think the EMV Migration Is a ‘Big Joke’

If you’ve been sifting through your wallet and counting the increasing number of chip-enabled cards you can find in there, you’re probably becoming more and more confident that EMV is finally happening in the U.S.

Source: www.paymentssource.com

Key basis — According to a DDPR survey of 26 ISOs and acquirers in the first quarter, only 30% had an interest in pursuing a partnership or a vendor relationship for EMV. That compares to 72% for mobile point of sale, 68% for digital loyalty, 62% for semi-integrated payments solutions, 58% for integrated payments and 46% for e-commerce gateway.