Vending machines are seemingly ubiquitous—but have you ever thought about vending machines beyond deciding which snack or drink you’d like to buy? Globally, vending machines are a billion-dollar industry. In fact, according to Foodtruckempire.com, the global vending machine industry earned over $23 billion in 2018.
So whether you’re looking to invest or you simply desire a way for your employees to grab a quick snack, it would help to know some of the key trends in vending machines.
This article will cover the latest vending trends and some statistics.
Healthier options
An NPR survey found that 75 percent of Americans say that they want to eat healthy, and an L.E.K. Consulting survey discovered that 63 percent of people say that they try to eat healthy most or all of the time.
When people think of vending machines, they typically don’t think of health food—they think of candy bars, potato chips or Pop Tarts. But new information about nutrition means that people are looking for healthier alternatives, and vending machines may soon start reflecting that fact.
Cashless payments
Everyone’s probably experienced the frustration of sliding a crumpled-up dollar into a vending machine only to have it spit right back out. That might be a thing of the past soon. A 2019 CNBC article found that 30 percent of Americans don’t carry cash at all.
Enter cashless payment options. Not only will people be able to buy items from vending machines without any cash, but the purchasing process will be easier, faster and more convenient. While cashless vending machines aren’t exactly new, they may become the new normal.
Increased personalization
Japan has more vending machines than the U.S. despite only having 38 percent of the U.S.’s population. There are also no currently available vacancies for vending machines to be installed there, but the vending machines in Japan have become more cutting-edge in order to stand out and differentiate one machine from the next.
Some vending machines in Japan guess a person’s age or gender and use that information to recommend certain products for them. This feature may be one way for vending machines to provide unprecedented personalization and customer service.
Environmentally-conscious solutions
Most vending machines use plastics in the packaging of their products, and single-use plastics are one of the biggest contributors of waste in the world. On average, the world produces 190.5 million tons of single-use plastic waste each year. That number is set to double by the year 2034.
Once people are made aware of this, they often want to do their part to save the planet—they just don’t know how. One solution is reverse vending. Multiple countries have set up vending machines where people can insert glass bottles, aluminum cans or plastic products for them to be recycled. People are then sometimes given cash or coupons as a reward. It makes sense, as many recycling facilities offer incentives for bringing in certain reusable materials. This process can reduce the amount of recyclable waste that ends up in landfills.
Call for your vending machine today
Understanding the latest vending trends can inform your decision to have a machine installed. For a vending machine, call us at ABC Vending Co., where we’re up to speed on all of the key trends in vending and can provide you with whatever type of machine you’d like.