The Next Generation Of Vending Machines

 The Next Generation Of Vending Machines

I have been in the vending industry well lets just say a very long time, it is over 20 years now and I remember when the vending machines were small in selections like maybe 10 or so and the display was this small window that you looked thru at the product laying on a shelf that would drop out letting the product fall to the delivery bin. The next generation was the full glass front viewing that open up the merchandiser so the product packaging could be viewed and used to attract you to it, it was called impulse buying and that is what made the vending machine so popular is its unique way of showing you something you really did not think you wanted till you saw it there in the machine or on the rack. Impulse buying is what has built the small roadside gas station to the large quickie mart chains of today. (And pay at the pump has put a hurting on that business business) As we grow into a more digital display type merchandising so has the vending machine become a digital multifunction automatic merchandising machine.

The next generation of machines and many are already out there and are growing each day, will be the digital interaction type merchandisers. Such things as instead of looking thru a glass front you will look at a beautiful high resolution screen where the glass use to be. It will be able to interact with you and give you information about the products inside. You will be able to touch the screen and play games, even though I do not see the playing games at the vending machine a thing that will catch on.
Who wants to wait for a person to finish playing a game so they can get a drink? The machines will gather information about you and communicate with you by way cell phone or other electronic tablets and things to come that we will use to communicate with.

The vending machines are now going more towards cashless by being able to take credit cards and other payments such as Google and Samsung Wallet, employee badges with ties to automatic withdraws from their checking accounts. Yes change is coming again to the vending machine as we know it and that's OK as it needs to change or it will stop having the affect on the buyer that it was designed to do and has become so very good at over the past well since beginning of impulse thinking... Heck the 1st vending machine is noted as being a device that dispensed holy water to people as they thought hey I could use some extra blessings this week.

The vending machines or as I really believe they should be called Automatic Merchandising Equipment has taken a turn and is now making an appearance in a mall or other high traffic area around the communities. We are starting to see that cool coke machine that you touch the screen and the battles can be spun by the figer touching the screen to rotate and move the product display.
You can read the labels on the bags up close and choose what you want to consume before you make the purchase.
The operator can change the price from a remote location to place items on sale or reduce before dates of freshness come about and the items have to be thrown away. The operator can monitor inventory and see what needs to be taken to the machine at time of filling and what is not selling so they can make adjustments to that location before the same old stuff mind sets in and sales start slipping. The operator with the new machines can show ads that pertain to certain products in the machine in a way that promotions are done on TV and on Billboards.

As we can see the next generation of vending machines that are hitting the streets are right in style to what they should be, and it is good to know that our industry is evolving along with the times and people are using the new features that the vending machines can bring to engaging the consumer with the machine as that is what a vending machine is suppose to do in the 1st place..
Keep in mind that these machines are slowly making their way to the locations we use them at but as prices go down on the things like the monitors and back end electronics, and they are. We will see more and more of these new machines at a location near you.
Lindel Creed
Vendweb.Com
Vending machines are what I know.