This year’s exhibition was held in England’s National Motorcycle Museum and hosted a series of innovative technology, attracting an array of manufacturers, importers, distributors and wholesalers in the process.
Vendex 2014 featured lots of recently released snack food items suitable for the vending industry, the vast majority of which were very tasty. Two noteworthy products were Fairfields Farm Crisps’ chorizo-flavoured crisps and Super!Natural’s energy juice drink. Both creations featured subtle flavours, unlike many rival taste-bud-shattering products, as well as attractive and colourful packaging – a winning combination for items vying for supremacy within the vending sector.
Due to the vending industry’s close links to the water cooler field, a range of cooler companies were also exhibiting some of their latest innovations at the show. Waterlogic’s Waterlogic 3 device, equipped with Firewall UV purification technology, was attracting significant interest, as was AA First’s 4400 Fizz machine, which dispenses a variety of carbonated water.
Pour Moi’s new Express Coffee Station (ECS) also proved to be quite popular at Vendex 2014, with attendees flocking to see the exciting all-in-one system. The ECS machine contains a bean-to-cup dispensing unit and an integrated media screen, as well as a lockable storage area. Pour Moi’s new device also features an integrated card payment option allowing users to pay by traditional card insert, mag stripe, wave & pay or mobile phone, and exclusive Pour Moi Coffee Shop Cups, which are insulated using a ripple design.
Cashless payment was certainly a prevalent theme at this year’s Vendex show and many company representatives were keen to highlight the benefits of their particular cashless models as we were pacing the exhibition’s halls.
Aeguana’s vending system offers contactless, pinless chip and mag stripe payment options and even allows users to pay in Bitcoin currency through mobile phones. The Aeguana vending machine includes an advertising display screen, weighs approximately 38kg and lets users update the price of stocked items either on-site or remotely.
Nayax representatives explained that their brand’s independent cashless payment module can be retrospectively fitted onto the vast majority of existing vending machines and provides consumers with an array of cashless payment options. The Nayax VPOS accepts swipe, contact and contactless cards, as well as prepaid cards and mobile SMS and NFC payments. The Nayax team also explained that this module was easy to install, simple to use and catered for remote software updates.
Judging by the current field of technological advances, it seems as if cashless payments – in particular payments using mobile phones – are on the rise in the vending industry. It’s an exciting time for this sector and the near future is sure to hold even more extreme, consumer-tailored vending devices.
Perhaps machines of the future will have the capacity to scan a potential buyer’s internet history and recommend products related to that? Future vending machines may even be able to determine how much money you have or are willing to spend, and advertise accordingly. I guess we’ll have to wait and see!
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