Healthy and technological breakthrough for the vending sector

In the last ten years the vending machines industry experienced a strong growth of its turnover (+43% the cumulative change over the period 2007-2017, according to the balance sheets of more than 200 companies included in the Prometeia’s sample), resulting, in association with the e-commerce, one of the most growing sectors within the retail market. 

The sector has been able to intercept the increasing demand for consumption on the move, both for work and leisure, ensuring immediacy and convenience in purchasing and a favorable quality/price ratio, and has been considered by SMEs as an alternative and/or integrative way to the traditional sales network for communication and launch of new products, able to reduce the costs of managing physical points of sales and to intercept new costumers target. 

Strategies implemented by sector companies were mainly the geographical diversification and the extension of the products’ range. 

From traditional workspaces, vendor “machines” has been introduced in transit hubs, as railway station, metro and bus stops, but also in hospitals and schools, and in specialized retail outlets, which have proliferated in main urban centers, offering a continuous supply also in areas without traditional commercial services. In terms of absorption, instead, companies has relied on expansion of the range and type of food products offered, introducing ready meals, snacks, fresh, organic, local and free form products, to intercept the new nutritional needs of consumers. 

The sector outlook is positive for the next few years (+5% the cumulative change expected for the 2018-’19 period). Growth opportunities will be larger for companies aiming at food assortment differentiation, keeping to ride the health trend, and at diversification in the no-food sector, from self-medication to electronic accessories, from beauty to fashion.

Another rewarding strategy will be the technological advancements which, through integration with internet and mobile devices, allows to explore new mode of services to consumers. Already today, according to the data of the IOT Observatory of the Politecnico of Milan, in Italy there are 80 thousand Smart vending, able to interact with the costumer, ie the 10% of the stock of installed machines. The vending machine will increasingly tend to transform itself from a simple provider of products to an information and service touch point, able to ensure a personalized offer; a plus not only for consumers, but also for producers who could collect feedback from customers and a vast amount of data useful for marketing strategies aimed at specific consumer targets.