Unlocking Customer Experience
A patented retail system that merges product security, brand engagement, and consumer intelligence.
SKELETON KEY
A one-of-a-kind sales display system that allows retailers to individually secure high-theft, high-value products while also satisfying brand requirements to make those products available for direct customer engagement. The system is multi-patented, scalable, and available in unattended or attended models, which provide customer authentication via a cloud-based key, RFID-enabled product tracking, and payment integration.
Retail environments dealing with high-value items face significant challenges, including substantial losses from theft—amounting to $100 billion annually—and lost sales of $40 billion due to long checkout times. Inefficient systems frustrate customers, with 77% unlikely to return after experiencing long waits. Traditional setups also fail to capture essential consumer data, limiting engagement and strategic growth. Current smart vending solutions lack interactive capabilities, leaving retailers struggling to balance security, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
PROBLEMS WORTH SOLVING
Theft
Shrink from both disingenuous consumers and untrustworthy retail attendants are rampant, and current retail security products are unreliable, and obtrusive to customer engagement.
Loss of sales
Slow to react / impatient employees cause lack of interest and frustration from previously engaged consumers leading to lost sales.
Antiquated check out
Inefficient traditional cash register service, including printing of receipts, scanning items, on-site cash management, lines at the register, and generally disengaged consumers.
Limited Insights
Bricks and mortar retail lacks ability to track customer interest, mine product data, and engage directly with a consumer.
Smart Vending Falls Short
Advanced vending machines keep products secure and allow for mobile payments, but don’t allow shoppers to interact with items for sale and make a purchase decision.
Staffing Challenges
Store clerks, cashiers, stock people, etc...
WHAT WE SOLVE IN 3 STEPS
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01
how it works
Scan the machine qr code.
02
how it works
Select the cubby you want to open.
03
how it works
Open the cubby on the app. Have a look at items for display. Have the power to make a purchase decision.
04
how it works
If you choose to buy an item, just tap to complete the purchase, take the item, close the cubby, and go.
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1/5
Smarter Vending
Skeleton Key keeps high value, high theft products secure, while allowing pre-authenticated consumers the ability to directly engage with the product, eliminating the need for traditional-attended sales, and delivering a far more intelligent experience than “smart” vending machines. This is the ideal solution for retailers and brands as they struggle to bridge the gap between customer/brand engagement and product protection.
2/5
Elegant, secure and tech-enabled sales display
Items for sale are locked within individual cubbies, and can only be accessed by an authenticated customer, or managed by a pre-approved sales attendant. Each step of product engagement is tracked by a custom locking system and RFID product tags. Skeleton Key enables all locks and business protocols to be implemented and managed from a central cloud account which can communicate with existing consumer apps via secure API connection.
3/5
Pre-approved, financially viable consumers
Skeleton Key provides alterable method technology to secure and unsecure an item using a mobile application which identifies consumer data (i.e. credit card information, a PayPal account, etc.) and directs the anti-theft system to transition from a secured state to an unsecured state upon a specific consumer being approved.
4/5
Highly scalable and adaptable
The Skeleton Key system is ideally designed as an unattended, freestanding, or wall-mounted retail sales display, but can also be managed by in-store attendants. The hardware/cabinetry is able to be customized for various product categories, specific retail environments, and necessary brand requirements.
5/5
Data intelligence
Skeleton Key’s patented system captures and manages key sales, consumer, and product data, invaluable for retailers, brands and third-party partners. The robust data collected provides the base for significant AI opportunities, including tailored B2C communication with partner-focused marketing, sales promos, etc. and consumer intelligence strategies for retailers and brands.
1
Login:
The Skeleton Key app makes it incredibly easy to sign in with consumer authentication through various payment partners.
2
Welcome In
Once the user logs in, they have the option to view their account, scan a QR code, or if it’s an administrator, they can check the backend data account.
3
QR Code
Once the user scans the QR code on the kiosk, they are authenticated (or not!) and given access to the cloud-based key to go shopping.
4
View Inventory
The app shows real time inventory and a live mapping of the kiosk with each product listed.
5
Select Product
The user can see product details and decide to unlock the cubby or return to the main kiosk screen.
6
Open Cubby
By tapping “unlock cubby” on the app, the cubby door opens almost instantly.
7
Sample Product
The user can now sample an item on display and make a decision to buy a new boxed item or return the items and lock the cubby. Each item is RFID tagged and tracked for complete product security.
8
Order Complete
The user can then checkout if they decide to purchase an item or simply return items and close cubbies if they decide to not purchase any items.
Duty Free Americas: 2025 Launch
We are proud to have Duty Free Americas, a leading global retailer, as our first partner. We will go live in 2025 with kiosks in major airport retail destinations across the US.
Features Heading
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Solution One
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Solution Two
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Solution Three
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Solution Four
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Unlock customer experience with Skeleton Key.
The products and services of Skeleton Key Security Systems LLC are protected by intellectual property rights, including patents, trade secrets, and copyrights.The following patents and patent publications may be applicable to Skeleton Key’s technologies: U.S. Pat. No. 9,367,865U.S. Pat. No. 11,783,647U.S. Pat. No. 12,223,783U.S. Pat. No. 11,704,950U.S. Pat. No. 12,051,293U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2024/0355161Skeleton Key and its logo are trademarks of Skeleton Key Security Systems LLC. Such trademarks include U.S. Registration No. 7,269,861.