Does vending have a future?

Vending machines have been around since the second half of the twentieth century and are now firmly in business. But will they be popular in the future? How popular are they now?

We want to understand whether the vending business can prosper, and what are the prerequisites for its development in the future. Let's take a look at consumer trends and draw some conclusions about the future of vending.

Have you noticed the paradox: our life is getting more complicated, but at the same time some of its aspects are rapidly simplifying? What does it really mean that humanity is moving towards the optimization of some areas of life? Let's take the sphere of consumption. Let us list our observations. In the modern world

• Consumption of goods and services should be as simple and accessible as possible

• Even making purchases, people want to save time, quickly and efficiently choose the most suitable option out of the offered range of goods and services

• A modern person strives to save his resources as much as possible in actions of secondary importance, such as searching for and buying a razor blade or quenching a sudden thirst

• Companies are offering more and more affordable and faster options for buying the necessary things and purchasing services

• The modern man does not want to go somewhere for a long time, to tediously wait or consider people in a long queue. "Here and now" comes first

• The policy of satisfying the momentary desire continues to win a sure victory in the battle with the expectation of delayed gratification

• "What I see is what I want" has become almost a way of life for some

• Individuality and spirituality are coming to the forefront, the development of which should be given as much time as possible. And buying a sandwich or coffee is better to be as simple and unobtrusive as possible

• Even such a simple action as planning a city route, the modern man would be happy to hand over to an automated mechanism, capable of creating an effective route in a matter of seconds.

• And the main thing: if I want to have urgent coffee in the underground passage, I want it here! A classic example of being and wanting

Such is the context of modern life. A number of business development experts believe that in the future we will see the flourishing of contactless commerce for ready-made products and services, with the introduction of information technology and robotics. This is already happening now

1. The consumer goods and services industries continue to automate at an accelerated pace. The use of all kinds of modern vending machines for selling everything in today's economic realities significantly optimizes costs and increases profits for entrepreneurs and saves time for customers

2. Virtually every sector of the economy is seeing an amalgamation with various IT products. Automation plus advanced digital technologies are yielding tremendous results in the introduction of "smart devices" for life, "intelligent solutions" for everyday issues and the convenience of using high-tech and multifunctional machines in everyday life

3. Human life is becoming more complex and accelerating, so affordable off-the-shelf products, instant service delivery or making a momentary decision based on what you see are all a more relevant part of everyday life than ever before

4. The impact of the pandemic will continue to affect the economy for years to come. From this point of view, the contactless purchase of goods and services is becoming even more relevant and popular. Along with online shops, this niche will be firmly occupied by vending machines. If only because some goods one wants to see before buying. Some services one wants to get on their own, controlling the process of filling out forms, without the questions and explanations of intermediaries

And vending machine is able to perform all these working schemes: "saw - wanted - bought", "quickly acquired the necessary goods/services", "caused a momentary desire - satisfied" and "helped quickly, in a convenient place and at any time to purchase goods/services of prime necessity".

Vending machine as a phenomenon meets all the needs of a capricious and fastidious person. A good vending machine is always around, always aware of what's important and significant, and always ready to offer! This concept of availability is always relevant, that is why vending machines have not exhausted their resource and can offer many useful goods and services to future consumers

In all countries of the world, to a greater or lesser extent, the number and variety of vending machines is steadily growing. People invent new original ways of contactless sales, form new demands with the help of innovative technologies, come up with new necessary services. Bill payments, registrations, ticket purchase, ready-made food and drinks, karaoke, hygiene items, diapers, top-ups and so on - all this is offered and will be offered by vending machines. From year to year becoming more efficient, intelligent and interesting

Is the future behind vending? The question is still open but undoubtedly in the future vending will develop. Sometimes in unexpected for us directions. Before each of us there is unexplored space of variants for vending business. Taking into consideration modern rate of production and consumption of goods as well as psychology of modern consumer it is safe to conclude that in vending machines there is a big potential. It means that vending has a future!