How To
How To: Plugged In
Keep Customers Plugged In On-premise charging solutions increase customer retention. weet, Ding ding, Bzzzzzt! Bartenders and bar owners are no strangers to the sounds of phones going off in their establishments. It’s no question that we’ve become a headsdown, feed-scrolling, thumb-happy society. But all that phone use inevitably leads to drained batteries and panic at the thought of not having enough juice for the phone capabilities that inherently matter, such as checking train schedules, arranging for a ride home from the bar, etc. That means patrons will be searching for a place to charge up, and your bartenders will be bombarded with a litany of questions all too familiar. “On a daily basis they’re getting asked by customers if they can charge their phone anywhere,” says Stassi Popov, founder of Veloxity, a supplier of cell phone charging stations and kiosks. “That’s sort of what we hear all the time; people nagging the staff like, ‘Where
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Bar Business Magazine
can I charge my phone?’ or, ‘Can you charge my phone behind the bar?’” Bars have begun to step up to this challenge by implementing on-premise charging stations where groups, especially millennials, often spend their time. Take Veloxity, for instance, a company founded in 2013 by millennials themselves: Stassi Popov and his brother Lucky Popov. Frustrated by their own experiences of going out at night with
Pro Tip Eliminate liability and increase customer retention by implementing on-premise charging stations where groups can spend time.
limited battery life on their phones, they sought to pursue an idea to create a phone-charging kiosk for public spaces. “We would go out and about—bars, restaurants, you name it—and we’d find ourselves without battery,” explains Stassi. “And it was a problem. In terms of getting in touch with friends, even getting a ride back home.” After brainstorming a few charging products commercially and then testing them out in Boston, the rest was history. Veloxity is now home to an array of seven products that cater to different industries. Their two main products are an 8 Locker Charging Kiosk and a Portable Phone Charging Station. The latter model is the one that comes recommended by Stassi for bars and restaurants, especially due to its flexibility and affordability. “It can be put anywhere,” says Stassi. “On top of the bar, behind the bar…
March 2017 barbizmag.com
Shutterstock/Nemanja Novakovic
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By Andria Park