Published • 21 Jan 2025
Consider the limitations of traditional vending machines. These outdated models are typically cash and coin-operated, displaying products in coils behind a glass pane. This design severely restricts product offerings, confining selections to items that fit within the coil system. Moreover, it necessitates cash transactions, creating an inconvenience for many consumers.
These limitations present a clear opportunity for improvement. Smart vending machines have emerged as a modern solution, offering significant advantages beyond aesthetics. They prioritize customer convenience by enabling a wider product variety and facilitating cashless transactions.
PicoCooler Vision – Smart Cooler
A smart cooler is a machine that offers secure transactions in an open-shelf refrigerated space. A customer presents their payment option, the cooler door unlocks, and the customer then selects the items they wish to purchase. It really is that simple. Scan, grab and walk away.
PicoCooler Vision goes a step beyond and uses automatic product recognition technology to reduce theft and improve sales. The automatic product recognition technology reads the shelves after the cooler door has been opened and items have been removed. The technology will add all items that have been removed to the checkout screen once the door closes. Since the customer had already presented a payment option to unlock the door, they are now responsible for purchasing all removed items and all those removed items will appear on the checkout screen.
(Instructions on use, payment options and the checkout list are given through the self-checkout screen on the smart cooler.)
Healthy vending options are easier to feature in machines such as our smart coolers. Operators can even source local establishments to sell their healthy food options. Remember, open shelves allow for meals, not just snacks. Provide your customers with nutritional, quick meals that will keep them coming back to your machines.
Stockwell – Smart Cabinet
A smart cabinet is a machine that offers secured transactions in an ambient and refrigerated space.
The main difference between a smart cooler and a smart cabinet is the ambient space provided in the smart cabinet, allowing for more variety when it comes to which products are being offered.
There are no coil-based rows given in a smart cabinet, much like our Stockwell. The smart cabinet utilizes open shelves, allowing for high-capacity space and high-margin items.
Operators have more selection when figuring out which items to feature in their units. Want to place a unit in a gym? Offer pre-workout, soaps, towels, air pods, sports drinks, high-protein meals, and other healthier, health-conscious pre-packaged meals. Having both ambient and refrigerated spaces allows operators to make better decisions when choosing their product offering.
(Stock your Stockwell with a wide variety of options specific to the locations you place them in.)
Offer the right products to the right people and those same people will view your machines as a go-to, convenient retail space, not just a vending machine.
PayPlus and PayPlus Omni – Vending Machine Card Readers
Cashless card readers offer your customers more payment options, allowing for more purchases. Our two vending machine card readers are a must-have for any vending machine and vending machine operation.
Our PayPlus Card Reader is the tried-and-true option for cashless payment solutions. Replace your outdated bill acceptor with a versatile, powerful solution that grants you access to valuable insights and sales performance.
If you have machines that currently only offer a cash payment option, learn more about our PayPlus Omni Payment Device. This device will fit over the bill acceptor on your machines and allow for cashless payments as well. You read that right – the PayPlus Omni is adaptable and ready to be placed over your current payment offering. This device allows for cash and cashless transactions and comes with the same access to insights and sales performance as the PayPlus.
(PayPlus Omni fits over bill acceptors to offer more payment solutions and increase revenue.)
Payment options through our card readers include credit cards, debit cards, mobile wallets (Apple Pay and Google Pay) and student cards. Keep customers coming back with loyalty programs, promotions and a QR code payment option through our 365Pay app. Customers load funds onto their 365Pay app for ultimate convenience when using a smart machine.
Are your locations missing out on sales because you’re not currently offering a variety of payment options? Would any of the payment options listed above add to your bottom line? Of course! Don’t miss out on revenue because you’re missing out on offering payment options.
VMS and ADM – Vending Software
Smart machines and vending payment solutions are one part of the puzzle.
With all that technology comes an incredible amount of data. Sales data can provide you with accurate projections into what to sell and where to sell it. Not only is the data invaluable, but software programs such as VMS and ADM are designed to give you up-to-the-minute transaction and inventory data. Adjust your pricing and know exactly what inventory you need to restock at your locations without ever having to physically be at your locations. This information saves you an incredible amount of time in preparation and enables you to be better serve your locations.
Streamline your routes by using that same data and save on fuel and labor costs. Vending software helps you optimize and scale the growth of your business. Expand your operation and never worry about machine downtime thanks to our service tech tool. This tool continually checks for technical issues, and those issues are immediately alerted to you and your staff.
High-tech, modern vending equipment is the result of thousands of years of adaptability. This industry is based off convenience for both customers and vending machine operators. Refining that convenience is how we got to smart coolers, smart cabinets, card readers and vending software. What’s the next step in the evolution of vending? We’ll just have to wait and see.