Latest and Upcoming Vending Machine Trends

In this tech-savvy world, where new inventions keep happening everyday, changing with the times is necessary in order to stay relevant. Just like people, vending machine trends also have to embrace technological advancement and changing needs in order to remain lucrative. Therefore, constant upgradation is a prerequisite to make any vending machine business a success.

Traditional vending machines with coin slots, packaged food and sodas have undergone a major transformation. In recent times, these have become more advanced and accommodative. Some of the latest and upcoming vending machine trends are listed below. 

1). Health Awareness Propagating Healthier Food Choices: 

As per a report by Statistica, the global health and wellness food market is on a constant rise.  In 2016, it was valued at 707.12 billion U.S. dollars and is projected to increase to 811.82 billion U.S. dollars by 2021.This shows a clear shift in dietary preferences. Therefore, healthy vending machines will be a trend for quite some time. Sugary soft drinks and packaged snacks are increasingly being replaced by hot meals, fresh juices, coffee and health drinks. Thus, for your vending machine business to gain more traction, offering more nutritional options is a requirement, now and in the future. 

2). More Flexible Payment Options: 

Older versions of vending machines featured a coin slot. However, in recent times most of the world economies are adopting a more cashless approach. This has led to an emergence of mobile payment options including e-wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Afterpay and such are being used by most Australians. Online bank transactions through credit and debit cards are also on an all time high. Due to this, the latest vending machines with flexible payment options including credit card slots and online connectivity, to support mobile payments, are much in demand. In the future, vending machines are likely to support EMV payments as these are more secure owing to the unique transaction code generated each time the card is used. A cashless vending machine is thereby a popular vending machine trend.

3). The Age of Personalisation:

Millenials prefer better service. As per research, compared to 16% of baby boomers, 27% of millenials have written negative reviews. This proves that they prefer better service. It is therefore necessary for businesses to go beyond the normal and explore more customised services to attract this generation. This is why AI vending machines that are more interactive and have a customer database that can detect individual preferences and suggest products are the latest trend. In the future, vending machines that have voice recognition services such as Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa will be in vogue. 

4). Products Beyond Food and Drinks: 

Traditional vending machines mainly supplied food and drinks. But since the development of innovative storage options, these now support sale of more product categories such as cosmetics, clothes, IT peripherals, pharmaceutical products and more. Supported by high-tech inventory management systems , CCTV cameras and alarm systems, security when displaying more durable and expensive articles  is assured. Hence, crimes such as thefts are minimised and the possibility of selling more diverse set of products increases. Big companies such as Kylie Cosmetics, Cadbury, Vogue and more are adapting such vending machines as a promotional mechanism. In future, vending machines might become even more accommodative, such that they can be used to provide more variety of offerings.

5). Machines in Newer Locations:

Vending machines are generally present in schools, workplaces and hospitals. Although, in recent times more vending machines are popping up at newer places such as airports, hotels, malls, retail stores and more, thus increasing overall brand reach and expanding the vending machine industry as a whole. 

6). Increased Inclusiveness:

With more people choosing organic produce, vegan food and gluten as well as dairy-free options, vending machines these days have products that can be consumed despite these criteria. Consequently, the offerings have become more inclusive, such that these can be consumed by everyone, no matter what their food preferences. Besides, there is much more attention being paid to nutritional value and quality as people are willing to pay higher for better products. Vending machines of today and of the future will hence have to be more inclusive and would have to provide more options to consumers.

7). Machine Supporting Sustainability and Eco-friendliness:

With environmentalism on a rise, most countries are heading towards a more sustainable model. According to a report by HP Australia and Planet Ark, 90% of Australian consumers and businesses care about environmental sustainability. This is the main reason why reverse vending machines are the need of the hour and are likely to remain popular, even in the future. These machines recycle plastic and provide money to consumers for putting the product inside it. The model is attractive as it gives the consumer an opportunity to earn a little cash while promoting a sustainable approach. 

All these are the latest and upcoming vending machine trends that one should adopt for a successful vending machine business that generates sales. 

If you are looking for AI Vending machines that support cashless vending, choose Smart Vending Machine’s offerings in Australia. We provide healthy vending machines, custom vending machines, reverse vending machines, IT Peripheral vending machines and more with the most advanced features. 

Call now to get a free vending machine today.