Straight Talk Wireless rolls out smartphone vending machines at Walmart stores

For those tired of waiting in line to buy a new smartphone or anxiously refreshing a delivery tracking site to make sure a new phone arrives intact, Verizon’s Straight Talk Wireless brand is offering another option: phones from a vending machine.

Straight Talk, a Verizon prepaid brand exclusively available at Walmart, has launched vending machines that dispense packaged iPhone and Android devices, similar to the tech vending machines often seen at airports. Customers can browse phones and plans via a touchscreen interface, then pick and pay for what they want, all without needing to wait for a salesperson. 

And when they take their new phone out of the box, it’s already activated and ready to make calls. That saves a potentially complex step for customers who would otherwise have to go home and figure out how to activate the device and add prepaid credit to it.

“A lot of our customers, they get confused with what to do at home,” says David Kim, chief revenue officer at Verizon Value, which includes the telecom giant’s prepaid brands. “It drives calls to care. It drives customer dissatisfaction.”

Even if potential customers aren’t ready to buy, they can use the machines to see what phone and plan deals are available without needing to wait on a sales rep, Kim says. And if they do have questions they’d want answered by a human being, the wait time will likely be shorter, since other customers can conduct their business with the machine.

So far, the new machines are installed in five Walmart stores, where they’ve sold hundreds of phones after thousands of interactions. Verizon plans to add them at nearly 100 more Walmart locations over the course of the year. In some cases, Verizon is testing the machines near the department in the rear of the store where phones are normally sold, but the company is also testing other locations, including near the checkout, where customers can easily browse the machine to see what’s available.

“As customers are checking out, they’re interacting with the machine just to see what’s the latest and greatest,” Kim says.

The company is also testing payment methods, including cash and card. So far, most people are paying by credit or debit, with some signing up for monthly autopay via the machine. But the machines are likely to continue to support cash as they expand to more stores, Kim says.

After developing the technology to ensure phones can be uniquely identified, tracked, and activated within the machine, the company continues to optimize how to highlight different phones for customers, including making them aware of various brands, price points, and special offers. 

And in addition to expanding at Walmart, Verizon Value—which offers eight brands at more than 100,000 locations across the United States—may also roll out vending machines to support its other lines at both other national retailers. While the company does need to ensure machines have internet connectivity and staffing to keep them stocked, selling no-contract prepaid phones is in some ways easy compared to selling phones on a contract, since there’s no need to check customer IDs or conduct a credit check.

Expansion possibilities may also include smaller devices offering other services, like letting people pay for a month of service without needing to purchase a prepaid card, Kim says. Other options being considered include machines at airports, which could offer prepaid phones or SIM cards to international travelers, and at existing retail locations for various Verizon Value brands.

“It’s just a matter of picking the right locations,” he says.

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