Client Success Story - SUNY Fredonia
Located near the shores of Lake Erie in Western New York, the State University of New York at Fredonia (SUNY Fredonia) is a public liberal arts institution that enrolls approximately 5,424 students and employs 1,426 faculty and staff. The university’s auxiliary services are provided by its Faculty Student Association (FSA), a not-for-profit organization that oversees the FREDCard, SUNY Fredonia’s campus card program.
More Convenience, More Sales
SUNY Fredonia utilized an offline vending program from 1995– 2005. Under this program, students were required to visit cash-to-card stations to put special funds on their FREDcards' "junk stripes" to use them for vending purchases. It became apparent over time that this was not convenient enough for students.
Shortly after implementing Odyssey PCS, SUNY Fredonia opted to become a beta site for CBORD's IP-based online vending program. The new program allowed students to use their existing FREDCard debit accounts for food and beverage vending purchases, eliminating the need for dedicated vending funds. The school saw immediate results.
"We saw an 849% increase in gross card-based vending sales less than a year after switching to online vending," says Eric Johnson, Systems Administrator, Faculty Student Association, SUNY Fredonia. "Gross vending sales overall increased by 97%."
Why such a drastic change? "It's the convenience factor," explains Johnson. "The money is already in their accounts— they don't need to add cash. Additionally, a new partnership with Loose Ends Vending helped make sure there was product in the machines, making it a win-win for everyone."
In addition to an increase in overall sales, Fredonia saw a dramatic upturn in the frequency of card-based payments. With offline vending, only 15.89% of vending sales were cardbased. After switching to online vending, card-based sales made up 57.58% of vending purchases.
"I would highly recommend online vending over offline," says Johnson. "In this day and age, we need to offer the highest levels of convenience possible in order to keep our customers satisfied."
Point-of-Sale Flexibility
To streamline sales in more traditional dining areas, SUNY Fredonia uses the MICROS® 3700 point-of-sale solution in dining operations around campus, including a Starbucks® concept. The school enjoys the ability to easily customize touch-screen interfaces to align with their offerings, along with the flexible menu levels.
"The menu levels with MICROS are great," says Johnson. "In our dining halls, they let us automatically change prices based on things like serving period, or even age in the case of kids' meals. In our Starbucks concept, we use them for sizing. Rather than having four separate items for short, tall, grande, and venti coffees, we have one menu item for coffee with four different menu levels for different sizes."
Success with Odyssey PCS
"I would recommend Odyssey PCS to other schools," says Johnson. "It has a lot of flexibility and functionality. Furthermore, I have been pleased with CBORD's willingness to incorporate user suggestions for enhancements into the product. It has been a reliable system."
