The Evolution of Zippin: Fast, Flexible, and Focused on You

In the ever-evolving world of checkout-free technology, Zippin has consistently led the way, making store deployments faster, easier, and more reliable. Our journey from complex store retrofits to streamlined Zippin Walk-Ups showcases our commitment to innovation and customer success. As we begin our fifth professional sports session checkout-free, we look back at where we started and how far we have come. 

The Retrofit-only Era (2018 - 2021)

When it comes to retail technology, it’s been common practice to undertake major store renovations to accommodate new checkout areas or self-checkout kiosks. So, it seemed logical to do similar work to deploy checkout-free stores. Projects typically involved redesigning or building stores from scratch and incorporating shelf sensors throughout the stores to ensure accuracy of the AI-powered cameras. While these stores achieved great success, the process to get a new store up and running was lengthy and costly. In some cases, up to 80% of the project time and cost could be contributed to items and activities not essential to the checkout-free technology, such as construction and redesign. 

Retrofits remain an ideal format for airport stores, college campuses, theme park stores, and even some larger stores in sports and entertainment. The Fort Worth Magazine Store at DFW International Airport, for example, achieved a 47% increase in average transaction value and 25% lower payroll costs in just the first few months of operation. The store serves thousands of travelers from around the world with over 1,000 SKUs. 

Zippin Lane Arrives (circa 2022)

To address these challenges and help our customers get started with checkout-free faster, we introduced Zippin Lane. This is our turnkey checkout-free solution that slashed project times and costs by more than 50% compared with a retrofit. These high-traffic, profitable stores needed only one wall of merchandise, and came with preconfigured entry, exit, and store design, making deployments quicker and more efficient. 

Allegiant Stadium, which is still the venue with the most checkout-free stores deployed anywhere in the world, operates ten Zippin Lanes. These lanes have served Las Vegas Raiders fans, concert-goers, and even Super Bowl LVIII fans in just 30 seconds. In one year, they saw 78% higher revenues versus traditional stands. For 2023 NFL home games alone, the stores sold more than 100,000 items. 

The Zippin Walk-Up Revolution (circa 2023)

Our latest innovation, the Zippin Walk-Up, transforms existing hot food stands into checkout-free marvels. By retaining the counters, space, and kitchens, we simply install our tech—entry, camera, and network subsystems—and go live. This deployment process, refined over the past year, takes just a few days, allowing you to have a new Walk-Up ready by the next home game. The beauty of the Zippin Walk-Up is that it streamlines store deployment projects down to the core aspects of a checkout-free store and eliminates everything else. No construction, no special foodservice equipment, no high voltage electrical work, and no floor drilling is required.

The technical advances we’ve made with our platform has allowed us to operate these stores without shelf sensors, just cameras. We also continue to reduce the number of cameras required, relax the lighting requirements, and can successfully operate these stores in outdoor conditions.  

Outdoor Zippin Walk-ups (2024+)

Chase Stadium, home to Inter Miami FC, is an example of pushing the boundaries of the Zippin Walk-Up. They deployed six Zippin Walk-Ups Outdoors - two in tents and four in retrofitted container stores. It took just six weeks from the time the deal was signed until the first four stores were live, in time for the first game of the season. After just two events, the venue requested two additional stores, which were ordered and deployed within the next 30 days. 

Our Fast and Flexible Solutions Focused on what You Need

All of our checkout-free innovations—retrofits, Lanes, and Walk-Ups—have their place. Whether you need a major store overhaul or a quick, efficient solution for underutilized spaces, Zippin delivers. Our focus is on minimizing construction, avoiding business disruption, and ensuring you go checkout-free swiftly. On your schedule, based on your business objectives. 

Our flexible platform integrates seamlessly with your existing systems, payment gateways, loyalty apps, and custom shopping experiences. Today we support close to 30 different integrations through our API framework, the Zippin Gateway. This makes it easy to add new capabilities that build your brand and delight your shoppers and helps future proof your investment with Zippin.

That’s what makes Zippin different. We are passionate about your success and your brand, not just our own. We provide the technology to help you run your business better, your way. The wide variety of store designs, store types, and retail verticals we serve is a testament to our flexibility. All the tools you need to optimize your stores can be accessed from any mobile device or browser. There’s no need to purchase expensive, single-purpose devices like ruggedized barcode scanners.

Why Choose Zippin?

The benefits of checkout-free technology are undeniable, and with Zippin, you can start experiencing them almost immediately. No matter which type of store is best for you, our technology doesn’t require additional “training” prior to going live. This means once the site is ready and our hardware is installed, a store simply requires system configuration and end-to-end testing before going live. 

We understand things move fast, so we move at the speed of now. As we continue on our journey to accelerate the adoption of checkout-free around the globe, we continue driving down costs, enhancing our technology and simplifying installations. This helps bring checkout-free to new business cases across a broader range of business verticals.

Curious about checkout-free and want to know why Zippin is the right choice? Contact us today.