Digital Vending

The impact of digital touchscreens on unattended retail

In this article, we report on the huge impact seen in environments where operators and brands have utilised digital touchscreens on their vending solutions.

Consumer needs are evolving. Over the last decade, increased demands for product diversity in the workplace led to a shift to micromarkets replacing many traditional vending machines. Naturally, this expectation of greater product variety in public settings became the next big thing, but a solution with more security than an open-shelved micromarket was needed to prevent shrinkage.

In recent years smart coolers have become a popular replacement for vending machines in more public settings like hotels and airports because you get the security of a vending machine with the product diversity of a micromarket, allowing operators to provide high margin items in untapped locations.

But more often than not, these solutions allow for one-time, convenience purchases. A bottle of coke as a pick-me-up on a commute, or a much-needed bottle of water on a hot summer’s day. Unattended retail has been notorious for low value, high throughput, one-time purchases. But, as retail has evolved, so have the needs and expectations of consumers.

Enter the meal deal

Just Eat for Business, ran a survey and found out that 37% of workers buy a meal deal more than once a week, mainly due to the fact that meal deals are convenient and affordable. For busy workers that are on the go and have limited time for lunch, meal deals often become the most cost effective and fastest way to keep energised on a budget. However, as consumers have become more health-conscious, they often look for high-quality food options as part of their meal-deal and therefore variety has become a must-have and the more choice a supermarket offers, the more successful the model has become.

Historically, unattended retail hasn’t mastered the art of the meal deal in public settings. Mainly due to the fact that products are behind glass and the machines lack the ability to promote multi purchases and basket bundling. So whilst solutions like smart coolers have dramatically improved the number of SKU’s and product range offered in transient locations, they often lack the ability to drive engagement and spend.

Digitalisation is key

Adding a digital touchscreen to smart solutions is absolutely paramount in driving sales in unattended retail. This is largely due to 3 key reasons: touchscreens are able to display information which draws the attention of the consumer and engages with them during their purchase journey, touchscreens promote multi-purchases and lastly, touchscreens can build loyalty to encourage repeat purchases.

One of our clients, Graddon’s vending saw a sales uplift of 3500%, when they replaced a traditional vending machine with a digital vending machine with a touchscreen, largely because of its ability to run meal deals and promotions.

Touchscreens engage

Digital touchscreens not only draw consumers in through their ability to show full-screen, visually appealing media, but they also have the ability to display pop-ups during the purchasing journey based on what consumers have chosen. Digital touchscreens also have display areas for interactive banners which run above the planogram, which can highlight promotions and can be remotely scheduled to appear at any location, at any time of the day/night. This is an extremely powerful tool if operators are looking to push excess stock or want to sell products fast, such as sandwiches that have upcoming expiry dates.

Digital vending promotes multi-purchases

Digital promotions are scheduled in cloud-based software. Operators can bundle frequently purchased items, like sandwiches and snacks and set predetermined discounts to encourage multi-purchases in one transaction. This is extremely valuable to increase the basket value and tap into the meal-deal revolution model that has worked so successfully in the traditional retail space.

Touchscreens build loyalty

Consumers love convenience and good value for money. By providing them with a seamless experience where they can select good quality products that are affordable will only increase the likelihood of future purchases. Our digital vending solutions also offer the ability to pay via an app, which offers a multitude of options, such as pre-set discounts for repeat purchases.

The future of digital vending

There is no doubt about it – digital vending will follow in the footsteps of the traditional retail space. Consumers have come to expect diverse choices and good value for money. Not only do digital vending solutions look great, they are incredibly easy to use and have the capacity to hold up to 80 SKU’s of various shapes and sizes. The large 24” touchscreen is the key component to give operators the ability to harness the power of clear and compelling advertising on digital screens, which will ultimately increase basket size and revenue.

Digitalisation of the vending market is the future and has the ability to double, if not triple the revenue generated at each location. It will also give operators the flexibility to customise their machine interface and tap into consumer insights and trends, which will allow them to better understand their consumers wants and needs.