The Inevitable Vending Machine Journey: Steps into The Future
It may sound obscure that, in a way, a vending machine can make a difference to your life. Somewhere along the way, we have prejudiced that this machine can only do so much as vending products and keeping your side business earn profits. The thing is, we may have underestimated what a vending machine can do. To this day, a vending machine has evolved into a smart vending machine. While still looking similar to its precedent version, it is amplified with other features that make this machine can help people better, both for vending machine owners and customers alike. A simple illustration is when you go to the bank and you come directly to this machine with a touchscreen to pronounce your business, along with your ID or name. This machine will then print you a ticket with your information and a queue number that is specifically shown which line you should head to the queue, to minimise your time finding out which way to go or how long you should queue. This machine is also considered as the earlier smart vending machine. It gives you tickets after you give the machine the information you have. It stores your information and in return, it gives you access to make your life much easier without spending the whole day at the bank (no shade to bank employees). And on that note, you may or may not have unconsciously unlocked a new journey through vending machines in this modern day.
Systematic, not problematic
When you look at a vending machine, you sometimes wonder what makes them so special. They are just bulky and maybe you have issues with jammed cash that one time when you bought bottled water. What you didn’t realise is that you have been on this vending machine journey, whether you like it or not. These days, a smart vending machine is built with its own system to monitor any encounters the machine faces. The next time you buy bottled water, the machine keeps the information, and the owner can check the inventory. So when you have an issue upon purchasing, or should there be something wrong with the machine, this system shows what could be the source of the problem. An immediate action then can be taken, so that the machine can go back to normal. You see, vending machine owners rely on the customer's journey operating the machine. As without them, these owners will never know what they should enhance to their system, such as acknowledging their most popular product in inventory, and which location is the best to put the machine around.
Smartven has their own smart system, namely the Cloud Management System (CMS). This system allows you to check the inventory, sales report, and if there is any issue you should maintain. As it suggested, the system collects data into the cloud, so you can access them remotely. With this system, you can also choose which payment types are enabled, or when you want to put on some products on sale. The inventory count is also useful to let you know when you should refill the machine, so you don’t have to go back and forth to check your machine. All of these CMS features can be accessed via web browsers, which makes them less problematic even more.
Adaptable and flexible
A smart vending machine also means you get to customise anything based on, again, the customers. Other than the previous example on the ticketing machine at the bank, smart vending machines can also be seen at fast food franchises. With the same system, they take your information and orders to be sent to the kitchen, then they print a number to get you in line. The difference is, they usually have a payment system built in the machine. This makes these smart machines adaptable to what kind of business they are in. They can be built to your liking, if you have the idea. Maybe it can be upgraded with a scanner to scan QR codes and order IDs, or maybe instead of rolling out products, you want a machine that can dispense something through a designated slot. This is also based on the customer’s journey, more or less. Your initial idea is practically generated from what you see when you go around places and see what you can do more with a compact machine that can make people’s life easier. Through the flexibility of a smart vending machine, it can help you to make your ideas come to life, and essentially, help others.
When you go shopping, sometimes you have to queue at the till to finalise your purchase. The busy store will get overwhelmed with customers and the small number of employees doesn’t help either. What a smart vending machine can do with this issue then? For example, Kalbe requested Smartven to build a smart vending machine that can help them run the store in a much better experience. When the cashier desks are at full capacity, customers can go directly to the vending machine to place an order. That way they can still make purchases and payments, without going through the long queue or the frustration to get the spelling of the medicine right as with the machine they can type the name correctly. The machine can adapt to every need, and it always comes from the customer’s habit. Should you need to know more on customising a vending machine, you can click the button at the end of this post to consult your ideas.
Accommodating needs
We now have several examples of smart vending machine uses. While they are both systematic and adaptable, the base of what they can do is accommodating the needs of the customers. Without the accommodating factor, these vending machines are only pieces of technology that are just put to be on display. A self-service kiosk may be considered as a smart vending machine. They accommodate customer’s needs with their reliability to get things done in a much faster way. We did mention the self-service kiosks at the fast-food franchise. They are deemed as tools for purchasing, but what if we buy something from smart vending machines and we get the products right away? Vending machines for digital products are an example for this. Everything from their own systems, flexibility on the design and even down to accommodating customer’s needs, all in this one machine. The core of this is how we can see vending machines as not just a machine that vends snacks and drinks, but how these machines can someday be the tool to fulfil every need in the future.
With this, it concludes that a smart vending machine is a systematic machine that is adaptable based on customer’s needs originated from accommodating the customer’s journey through the new ways of vending machines. For more information on Smartven, you can check our website and Instagram page. Stay healthy and see you soon!
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