Traditional Vending Machines - Just a simple box with snacks
So what comes to mind when someone says vending machine? A large glass and metal box placed conveniently in a corner, with some brightly packaged snacks, plastic beverage bottles. Or maybe the vending machines that you are thinking of are those table top machines, commonly found dispensing tea or coffee in office pantries. Or perhaps you are thinking of the ticket dispensing machines at metro stations. While the products being dispensed may vary, all the vending machines above usually accept currency notes, coins and cards and allow for punching in the product code through some buttons or a keypad.
All in all, a vending machine would seem to be a simple mechanical box with limited payment options to make a purchase using cash or sometimes a debit or credit card. These machines also have a high chance of a lost sale if the customer walks away if he/she doesn't have the exact amount of cash on them, or if their card fails to swipe or be detected for some reason or if they do not wish to swipe/tap their card multiple times to get multiple products.
With the Retrobox, Vendekin Technologies is bringing transformation into the vending machine business, making these older, simpler and clunkier vending machines smarter with a touchless, ‘shopping cart’, mobile purchase experience with multiple digital payment options.
So what is Retrobox?
Retrobox is a palm-sized plug-and-play device created for vending machines by Vendekin Technologies, used by smart vending machines suppliers in India, US, Europe, UAE and other countries. It is compatible with all Multi Drop Bus (MDB) versions and can be set up in less than 10 minutes. The Retrobox acts as an interactive controller device, managing the execution activities through customers’ mobile phones. It can be placed inside the old machines by simply connecting the MDB, DEX and Keypad cables of the machine, without having to make any cosmetic changes on the exterior. The machine looks the same but operates more smartly and efficiently.
What made managing the older vending machines cumbersome?
Missing Innovation
- Older machines need a GSM telemetry device to transfer data. With the 3G sun setting upon 2022, these devices have to be upgraded to run on 4G and 5G networks.
- There are usually only two payment options available in older vending machines, either cash and card.
Poor Consumer Experience
- These machines dispensed only one product at a time.
- Older machines require currency change management to accept physical currency
- Contactless cards have limitations in terms of number of swipes/taps in a day
Operational Inefficiency
- Running and maintaining cash equipment comes at a high cost.
- Card readers, cash acceptors and telemeters are expensive to set up and maintain.
- Existing back office operation management softwares do not provide in-depth data analysis for the entire operation.
Today, if vending machines and kiosks do not support all forms of mobile cashless payments, the operators could be missing out on an extra 20% in sales. That’s where Vendekin’s Retrobox provides the booster shot of smart tech, providing a one stop solution to the operators.
