A Tiny Vending Machine Shows Off Mobile Payments’ Prowess

One part of the mobile payments market that doesn’t get a lot of notice these days is the unattended retail—or vending machine—market.

While many think of vending machines as the preferred method of getting a cold soda or perhaps a candy bar, there’s a lot of potential in this market, and mobile payments could be a major underpinning of unattended retail.

To that end, PayRange recently created a portable kit that allows for easy demonstration of how these two technologies work together.

The Handheld Vending Machine is a simple demonstration kit containing a small plastic box that looks like a vending machine as well as the Bluetooth wireless device known as PayRange’s BluKey that allows mobile payments to be accepted.

Powered by one nine-volt battery, the system can offer demonstration offers, as well as promotional options like coupon codes or several other standard PayRange features.

The system can even be “installed” on a demonstration level to show the comparative ease of such an operation—it reportedly takes seconds to actually do—and those interested can pick them up at the OneShow in Las Vegas running next week for just $25, for those already using PayRange.

There’s a certain value in a demonstration that little else can replicate. It’s one thing to tell someone about a product, or tell them how it works, but being able to show them, that’s a whole different matter.

With PayRange’s system showing off so readily how to turn a vending machine into a mobile payments-capable mechanism, it’s likely to draw a lot of attention, and potentially open up more vending machine systems to a secure, easily used platform.

The Handheld Vending Machine should leave users better able to show the kind of power this system represents to potential customers. Considering these are selling for so little, there’s not much to hold users back. A simple demonstration model that allows users to show just how simple it can be to set up PayRange capability in vending machines—as well as how much value it can deliver after the fact—should be a winner.