In conversation with Abhinav Soni, Sales Head - Opportunities & Challenges for smart vending machine

Vending may have been in India for almost 40 years now, but as the world rides the new wave of digital retail, our sales lead Abhinav Soni shares his thoughts on the opportunities and challenges presented by smart vending technologies, the solutions provided by Vendekin to brands globally and the challenges his team faces in selling this idea to brands and entrepreneurs. Excerpts from this interesting conversation:

Smart Vending Machines in the Indian market

Abhinav shares that the exponential growth of digitisation in India has resulted in massive traction for the idea of a smart & unmanned retail landscape. Multiple brands are showing interest in building new channels of sales & even beginning to explore automatic vending machine prices in India. While smart vending machines offer end-consumers a touchless and personalised experience, Vendekin Technologies provides smart vending solutions in India and worldwide to brands in the retail and food & beverages (F&B) sector. Vendekin does this by retrofitting their existing vending machines to make them “smart” – cashless and touchless – with the help of a web or app interface.  Vendekin also customises smart vending machines as per a brand’s specific needs and requirements and provides an AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning) driven back office vending management software to remotely track sales and manage other vending machine operations digitally.

Traditional Stores vs Regular Vending Machines vs Smart Vending

While Abhinav doesn't believe in the idea of pitting the concepts of traditional stores, regular vending machines and smart vending machines against each other, he does elaborate on the benefits that brands experience with smart vending machines. For instance, setting up a traditional brick and mortar store takes a lot more time and money to get up and running. Regular cash-and-coin operated vending machines come with their own set of limitations and still require tactile human interaction and manual intervention in its operations

Smart vending solves both of these challenges. A vending machine can be set up in as less as 1/10th of the cost of a traditional storefront. And in less than 24 hours a business can be set up with smart cashless vending machines in India. Customer transactions on these machines are entirely touchless, managed through smartphones, while all the sales data and interactions can be tracked digitally by the vending machine operator.

Expanding Beyond the Usual Markets

Vending machines are a common sight at airports, railway stations, bus stops, corporate offices and various public spaces. But there's a lot more that can be explored, says Abhinav. Vendekin-powered smart cashless vending machines can be set up in residential complexes, educational institutes, business parks, fitness centres, hospitals, etc. Basically, any place that witnesses high footfall is a potential place of business for smart vending machines.

The team at Vendekin can help businesses identify such high footfall spots across the country and handhold them in setting up smart vending machines at these locations. This is a part of Vendekin’s bouquet of vending solutions in India and across the world.

Scope of the Vending Industry

According to Abhinav, vending has now evolved over the usual packed snacks and beverages. The smart cashless vending machines in India and worldwide can be customised as per the product a brand wants to sell. Natural Ice Cream now vends tubs of its popular ice creams through a customised refrigerated vending machine in Pune, similarly Shaukeen Pan has a unique "Paan Vending Machine" outside its store and Gadre Marine has packaged seafood vending machines installed in a residential complex.

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In conversation with our CEO Aroon Khatter: On Setting up a Digital Vending Business

The digital world provides an expansive universe of potential to every brand. And with the pandemic, the march of Indian retail towards digitization has only hastened. This hastening has brought to the fore unmanned automated retail, which allows for each customer to have a personalized shopping experience with minimal human interaction. And smart vending solutions, which are an essential part of unmanned retail and self checkout, are increasingly becoming a part of Indian retail’s digital umbrella, along with e-commerce, delivery apps, and cashless digital payments.

What does this mean for brands and entrepreneurs? Our CEO, Aroon Khatter talks about the digital future of retail through vending machines and unmanned retail in India. Why and how brands can go digital-first with the help of smart vending machines and unmanned retail solutions  in India.

1) Smart vending machines are seeing robust growth in India and the world, what according to you is the reason?

Chief executive of the National Health Authority of India, Ram Sewak Sharma stated that India has 1.18 billion mobile connections, 700 million Internet users, & 600 million smartphones, which are increasing 25 million per quarter. And because smartphones have become ubiquitous, it has increased the customer’s appetite for instant gratification. To match such needs, businesses are constantly having to come up with newer solutions.

An IDC research stated that two-thirds of the CEOs of Global 2,000 companies will shift their focus from traditional & offline strategies to more modern digital strategies to improve the customer experience before the end of the year. Why? Because with each passing day the customer’s need for instant gratification is increasing. We all know that right now, when it comes to purchasing something, it is ‘Buy online & wait!’.

Through Vending Commerce (VCommerce), automatic vending machines in India address a lot of these problems. People do not have to wait for their order. They get it right where they are, right when they want it. The whole experience is contactless and the products is available 24*7. This is not just retail, this is smart retail.

2) Which industries do you think will benefit from the digital-first approach provided by VCommerce or automatic vending solutions and machines in India?

In my opinion, the consumption-theme oriented companies i.e FMCG companies will benefit the most from VCommerce.

For example, let’s say a kid asks his/her parents for an ice cream, at midnight, when restaurants and food apps are no longer delivering. But a smart, unmanned vending machine downstairs in their apartment complex common area can be an accessible purchase point, and that too instantaneously, without any waiting.

There was a preconceived notion, at least in India, about vending machines being only useful for products like packaged snacks at airports. But that is fast-changing. One of our clients at Vendekin, Gadre Sea Food, is in the ready-to-eat seafood business. With our help they’ve installed automatic vending machines in societies, which dispense prawn biryani! All a customer has to do is walk down, make a touchless, cashless payment through their phone, and pick up a prawn biryani with zero-wait and no human interaction. And this is just one example. We have created similar smart vending solutions for Chitale Bandhu, a major snack player in Pune and even a local paan shop called Shaukeen! Apart from providing an extra sales channel, these vending machines also help in increasing their brand recall.

3) According to you, how can traditional businesses become digital-first?

FMCG brands like these have successfully evolved into a billion-dollar industry. In the process, they have adopted a digital-first approach to optimize their internal operations and processes. With the pandemic their customers too increasingly expect the conveniences of a digital-first approach, so in a way it is inevitable. It might take another few years, but it is already happening. We have already had success with several legacy brands like Chitale Bandhu & Haldiram’s adopting Vendekin’s VCommerce platform and technology as part of their omnichannel sales strategies.

Vending and unattended retail operators/SMEs are also finding ways to digitize their operations and sales. Vendekin helps them go digital-first by setting up new avenues of sales with smart vending solutions, or VCommerce.

I truly believe that the next digital wave will be led by SMEs: kirana and other mom & pop stores & small FMCG producers.

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