Vending machines (2)

According to the European Vending Association (www.eva.be) the The increasingly nomadic lifestyle of consumers It is a great opportunity for the vending industry. they expect this outside the domestic market develop significantly in the next decade.
The last few years have been difficult for manufacturers and vending operators. As we have seen, the manufacturing industry provides most of the demand for these machines, but this market is slowing down due to A shift from blue-collar to white-collar labor also means that the type, range and quality of products supplied must adapt. (www.eva.be).

Some developments that are expected in the near future are;

• Machines that sell products with payment through mobile phones
• Machines equipped with Internet browsers
• Order panels with touch screens
• Talking machines for the blind or visually impaired
• Machines that are more respectful with the environment, that use environmentally friendly refrigerants, that make better use of ecological or recycled materials, that consume less energy…

(www.eva.be)

Other trends could be imagined that control of machines could be arranged remotely through the use of mobile information technology.

The growth rate of production in the United States, measured over ten years, is moderate. An increase of around 70 percent over ten years is less than 5% growth per year. It is difficult to say what the development of different products and sectors has done in this period. But the numbers “hide” this information.

The European Vending Association provides numbers of machines sold by period. This information is not oriented to sales, but to production, for example:

In Spain, 29,049 machines were sold in 2001 up to 34,148 in 2004. And an overall growth rate of 18 percent, and almost due to the growth of 2004.

The situation in the Netherlands shows a growth rate of 25% but this is due to the growth of 1999. The situation has stabilized since then. For Europe as such, growth is also moderate at twelve percent during the years 2001 to 2004 and in that case, this increase occurred in 2004.

Google Trends shows that people are searching less for “vending machines” since 2004 and the search engine suggests reading the following headline: Sex Toy Vending Machines Popular in Britain ([http://www.nbc4.tv/irresistible/7779805/detail.html] – March 7, 2006).

That headline sheds some more light on the use of these machines. It is not (only) that it makes it easy to buy at any time. And it goes beyond the nomadic lifestyle.
It is also interesting to know that South Africa is the top region for vending machine searches.
But while the trend line appears to be slowly declining, it’s hard to say what the trend really is for vending machines. But it seems reasonable that these machines continue to depend on developments in the industry and that there are changes from one category (manufacturing and beverages) to others (specialties and niche markets). ATMs, which could be seen as a familiar product dedicated to banking, have risen over the years and have provided a massive change in consumer behavior.
The question is what trends in society will cause vending machines to grow beyond normal population growth.

© 2006 Hans Bool