This article is brought to you by Cash Depot.

One challenge retailers are tackling on a daily basis is how to convert more customers from the forecourt to the store. Many have found success with foodservice, product selection or other offers that make their store a destination.

“In some cases, offering expanded customer services at the counter, including utility bill payment, mobile phone top-ups, lottery payouts or money transfers can help draw in foot traffic,” said Sean Burke, CEO of Cash Depot.

However, he said, these services often have low profit margins and create longer lines for customers. According to the NACS State of the Industry Report® of 2024 Data, mobile phone bill payments and prepaid phone top-ups bring in an average of $81 per store per month, which is down by about 12% from 2023. Prepaid cards average $124 per store per month, a decrease of 3% from 2023.

“Lottery sales fare better at $2,388 per month, but are still down around 7.5%,” said Burke. “And the tradeoff for the minimal added income is a potentially diminished customer experience.”

Burke cited 6sigma's queuing theory—once a wait lasts longer than three minutes, the perceived wait time for that customer multiplies with each passing minute. According to Waitwhile, two-thirds of consumers are willing to wait a maximum of 15 minutes in a physical line, but over 80% will actively avoid businesses where they have experienced longer lines.

“So, your customers might wait once in lines bogged down with those add-on services. But they very well might not come back,” he said.

Even more concerning, he said, performing these types of financial services adds additional accounting considerations. “More accounting means more time spent in the back office balancing books and running reports rather than spending that time on more profitable business pursuits,” explained Burke. “Plus, there is risk involved for these types of services, including meeting bank secrecy and anti-money laundering requirements, verifying identities, checking bank account numbers, potentially transferring money to the wrong person, and even credit risks if the customer does not have sufficient funds in their accounts.”

Cash Depot’s BANK IN A BOX can handle these add-on customer services instead, he said, allowing retailers to transfer those low dollar, low-profit transactions to a self-service kiosk.

“This will reduce lines at the register and provide additional privacy to customers through self-service technology,” he said. “But more importantly, BANK IN A BOX also fully manages all of the accounting details through a direct digital connection with the service provider, reducing compliance headaches for retailers by placing the responsibility for compliance directly where it belongs—the money transfer, money order, bill pay, or mobile top-up provider.”

This is part one of a two-part series from Cash Depot. Look out for part two on Thursday.