In Conversation: Apoorv Nene on Customer Success at Vendekin

In this month’s edition of our In conversation… series, we got chatting with someone whose team works hard and smart to ensure Vendekin’s customers – new and existing vending operators (NVOs & EVOs) and brands – achieve business success as they become a part of the instant commerce revolution with smart vending provided by Vendekin’s best in industry cashless vending solutions in India. Vendekin Technologies is known for spearheading VCommerce or vending commerce and unattended retail through a patented touchless and cashless technology complemented by a comprehensive analytics and aggregation portal vNetra.

In this riveting conversation, Apoorv Nene, head of Customer Success at Vendekin Technologies shares his experiences of leading the department and the most common and unusual challenges his teams tackle in providing a delightful experience with smart vending machine solutions to entrepreneurs in India.

Leading Customer Success at Vendekin

Apoorv is an Industrial Engineer from the University of Illinois Chicago and an executive alumnus of IIM Kozhikode. Armed with the experience spent working with American Axle & Manufacturing as a quality & industrial engineer and ZOLLER India & South East Asia as a technical sales manager in the United States and India respectively, Apoorv joined Vendekin Technologies in June 2021, just as the country was coming out of the pandemic-induced lockdowns and getting used to the contactless approach to daily life.

What exactly does Customer Success mean at Vendekin?

According to Apoorv, it’s simple. When a customer feels valued, feels that his/her decision to venture into this industry with Vendekin has begun showing results that are visible and tangible, that there is Customer Success.

Apoorv and his team of 15, which also includes a part of the operations team, work with two kinds of people every day. One, the ‘Customers’ consisting of vending machine operators, entrepreneurs and brands. This can range from experienced players to new entrants, both to whom Vendekin provides vending machine solutions in the form of smart vending machines, intelligent RetroBox and the SaaS software powering them. The second type of folks his team interacts with are the ‘Consumers’, those making transactions and purchases using Vendekin-powered smart vending machines. These consumers reach out to Vendekin using the in-app messenger with suggestions, complaints, or questions. Apoorv’s team steps in here by providing solutions directly or bringing the operator into the loop to ensure the issue is resolved in the shortest possible time. This way it’s a double win for the end-consumer as there is always another level of redressal of their complaints and concerns.

How does the Customer Success team help brands and new entrepreneurs?

The customer success teams are by the customer’s side right from the time they are on-boarded with Vendekin. The teams work in tandem with the marketing team in educating the customer about how to extract maximum benefit out of their smart vending machines by making optimum usage of the analytics platform - vNetra. These smart vending machine solutions provided include technical troubleshooting, marketing assistance, promotional strategy planning, and customisations of the vending machines and the software as per the client’s business requirements. The operations team in particular plays a vital role in ensuring that installation and commissioning of vending machines is carried out with utmost diligence. A thorough software and machine operation training is provided to the customers to ensure a good consumer experience.

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From T-shirts to Panipuris: The Oddest Vending Machines in India

Over the years Vending machines in India have become commonplace. Especially at airports, railway stations, bus stops and hospitals, vending snackables like chips, chocolates, beverages - perfect for the traveller-on-the-go. Or in offices vending a variety of coffee and tea concoctions. But are these the only things vending machines can dispense? While the digital vending machines in India are not dispensing puppies or lingerie just yet (they do in Japan!) things have gotten pretty interesting here too!

The team at Vendekin Technologies has travelled far and wide for research and to install our smart, cashless and touchless vending machines in India and globally. Here’s a compilation of some of the oddest and most interesting vending machines we have come across in India:

Panipuri Vending Machine

A Delhi man has made a touchless golgappa vending machine that dispenses these scrumptious water balls, also known as panipuri, completely sans human contact or touch. From golgappa or product selection to cashless payment to the final dispensation of golgappas — the entire vending machine operation is touchless, says Govind, who has custom designed and developed this contactless vending machine in India.

All you have to do is scan the QR code and make the payment. Once the payment is done, the machine will dispense a sealed pack of golgappas. The pack contains a glass for keeping the mouth-watering flavoured water from four available options — sweet, spicy, hing and mix.

Similarly, a person from Banaskantha district of Gujarat invented a contactless panipuri vending machine. The machine dispenses a panipuri once the user selects the price of their panipuri treat, and inserts the respective cash into the machine. A few seconds later, the vending machine opens a flap underneath the keyboard and out comes a mouthwatering panipuri onto the conveyor belt.

T-Shirt Vending Machine

Vending machines in India only dispense quick food items right? But this Vendekin-powered smart vending machine in Pune sells t-shirts! Installed at Westend Mall in Pune by Universal Classic Tshirts Co., this customised, unmanned "t-shirt shop" has turned many heads, generating organic interest in the brand.

Apart from being an unmanned store, what makes this vending machine even more attractive is the price range and variation of the products. With prices starting at Rs. 399 and an option to choose from 8 different types of t-shirts, this vending machine has become quite the crowd-puller in this Pune mall.  And like all the Vendekin-powered custom touchless vending machines in India, it accepts digital payments, supporting all major payment platforms and e-wallets.

Paan Vending Machine

Pune-based Shaukeen Paan sells their wide range of paans through Vendekin-powered smart vending machines. They were inspired and impressed by the fully contactless vending machine at Chitale Bandhu, also powered by Vendekin. Vendekin Technologies’ team guided them through vending operations and even suggestions about the ideal packaging of their product for the machine. This is perhaps the first contactless vending machine in India selling paan. During the several lockdowns, even as a majority of shops and businesses were shut, this Shaukeen Paan digital vending machine in India would stay operational 24X7, ensuring no stoppage in the sales. Curious as to what mechanism this custom touchless vending machine in India uses to dispense paan? Read our earlier blog detailing the entire journey of how this digital paan vending machine came to be!

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In Conversation with Varun Shah - Co-Founder, Vendo Systems

In this edition of In Conversation, our interview series, we got talking to Mr. Varun Shah, the co-founder and partner at Vendo Systems, a Pune-based vending machine operator, who uses Vendekin Technologies’ smart and touchless vending machine technology in India to power his vending machines. Mr. Varun shares his experience of introducing smart vending to various residential societies and corporate houses, the challenges they have faced and what they look forward to in future with their smart vending business. Excerpts from the conversation:

Please tell us about your business. How and why was Vendo founded? Can you please tell us about yourself?

Vendo was originally the brainchild of Sohel, a dear friend, who I have known for 8 years now. Both of us had our own businesses, I was into the events industry while Sohel ran his rolling paper business. The pandemic-induced lockdowns made us realise that our current businesses cannot be run remotely. Sohel was looking for newer opportunities when one of his cousins introduced him to Aroon Khatter, founder of Vendekin Technologies. Sohel saw potential in smart unattended retail. and started Vendo in December 2020 and soon after in January 2021, I came on board. Since then, all our machines have been powered by Vendekin.

Why did you choose to go into the unmanned vending retail business over other opportunities in retail?

We saw that during the pandemic, people started taking their health and related safety precautions very seriously. We also noticed that there were no provisions for availability of essential products on a 24X7 basis. We saw this as an opportunity to introduce vending machines or unmanned retail as a solution that fills this gap, fulfilling the customer’s need for both safety and convenience. Powered by Vendekin’s intelligent vending machine solutions in India, these smart vending machines can dispense snacks, beverages and other essentials any time of the day or night. Plus the consumers can pay for it via cash or through a completely cashless and touchless digital transaction on their phones.

How many places in Pune are your vending machines located in right now?

We started off small with 3 smart vending machines. And now have 14 Vendekin-powered vending machines spread all across Pune in Maharashtra. This was possible because Vendo was handheld by Vendekin during its initial days in the industry on all crucial aspects. Our first installation was in a residential society named Rohan Kritika, followed by Rohan Mithila in Pune.

Apart from these, we have also manage some of the best digital vending machines in the Pune offices of Resalary and Webasto

Any key takeaways on your experience working with residential complexes vis-a-vis corporates?

Both were obviously vastly different experiences for us at Vendo. Residential complexes and their governing bodies require a lot more convincing and explaining on how the machine operates, its benefits and its ongoing usage and maintenance. Corporates, on the other hand, are familiar with the concept of unattended retail and vending, so they already have a budget for such installations. The large number of people in their offices, which in turn means high volumes, makes unmanned retail an ideal option. One benefit of working with  residential complexes is that it gives us a chance to educate and engage with their residents, a majority of whom work with large corporates, and therefore could be future clients or decision-makers as well.

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Stories from Vendekin's Second Outing At the Retail Leadership Summit (RLS) In Mumbai

Vendekin Technologies participated in the Retail Leadership Summit (RLS) 2022, organised by the Retailers Association of India. This was the second instance where Vendekin participated in the RLS, the first time in 2020. The vending machine industry is one of the most crucial segments of the retail industry, also known as the unattended or unmanned retail. Vendekin Technologies took part in this prestigious event with two goals in mind.

1. To study and understand the winds of change in the retail industry post opening up of markets after removal of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
2. To showcase the vision that the future of retail is Instant Commerce and how we’re pioneering it with the best vending machine management software in India and globally.

The Future is Instant Commerce

Our founder Mr. Aroon Khatter presented Vendekin’s POV of the future of retail in India and globally and everything about Instant Commerce (Vcommerce) on the second day of the summit held at the Westin Mumbai Powai Lake.

Instant Commerce is the natural extension of QCommerce or Quick Commerce (Swiggy Instamart, BlinkIt, Dunzo), which has grown from Ecommerce. The internet gave us all the gift of convenience, where one could be sitting in the safe and comfortable confines of their homes and ordering what they desire through online shops. While Ecommerce ensures our products are delivered to our doorstep within a couple of days or purchase, Qcommerce bridges that gap by establishing a robust local ecosystem of vendors that can fulfil the needs of the end consumer within a few hours. Instant Commerce, or we love to call it, Vcommerce (Vending Commerce), is the future, which brings the store to the customer with smart cashless vending machines solutions in India powered with the smart tech of online payments, touchless user interface, and a digitally managed inventory for the retailers and vending machine operators.

Giving RLS an experience of VCommerce

Our marketing and customer success team too participated in this summit. Vendekin Technologies booth had its latest smart vending machines on display, which gave the visitors a first-hand experience of Instant Commerce. We noticed that this year’s summit had a lot of first time attendees, and the ones who interacted with our teams were delighted by the power of Vcommerce, smart cashless vending machines solutions in India, the platforms we provide, like vNetra for retailers to manage their vending machine operations effectively, digitally and the scalability it provides to their businesses on how to go from 10 to 2000 machines spread all over the country.

We also attended some interesting talks and panel discussions at the event, which gave us an interesting POV, since there were several shifts in perspective in the retail industry that were clearly evident right from the opening keynotes to the offerings of the several exhibitors at the event.

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In conversation with Mr Ajit Nair, VP Product at Vendekin Technologies

Continuing with our In conversation… series, this time we decided to sit down with someone we all know as an ocean of knowledge when it comes to the product development of smart vending machines at Vendekin Technologies.

We got talking to the Vice President of Product, Mr. Ajit Nair, an expert in product management and network security, about his vision of making the retail vending experience a truly touchless and cashless experience that works seamlessly across a user’s multiple devices. We also spoke about his philosophy of innovation, product development and the future of vending and Vendekin!

How did it all start for you?

As a child, I was interested in building and repairing things at home. That's where the builder mindset kicked in for me. Over the years that builder mindset shifted to building products for

1. Telecommunication grade Signalling stacks to Billing and Charging stacks, handling millions of calls and billing data daily
2. Network Security stacks
3. Telecom Virtualization products and finally
4. Consumer Applications and SaaS Enterprise software

Subconsciously this builder mindset then shifted to a common thread, i.e every piece of work that was done did make a difference to those around me.

The difference could be in the form of helping people connect with their loved ones, creating systems where people could share their private information to access services without worrying about their data’s security, or even ensuring that a late hunger or craving could be fulfilled late in the night without having to rummage for cash through cashless and touchless smart vending machines.

The shift in mindset has also made me realise how to strategize about a product for the future and make decisions according to what a consumer would look for as a natural progression for the service. This forward-looking mindset has helped my love for building products grow alongside the intention of building a sustainable business. With Vendekin Technologies, the learning has not just been quick but also helped me grow as an individual. To be agile and resist making decisions based on gut, instead relying more on data received from the product and its users.

What technologies do you work with and what products have you developed so far?

I have worked with technologies like microservices architecture, cloud, networks, React JS, JavaScript, Typescript, scalable systems and even old school tech programming languages C, C++. Right from writing code for low footprint systems to large scale systems. Bottom line, I enjoy writing code and building systems that put a smile on the face of the consumer.

The products I have developed so far include SS7 stacks (Signalling System for PSTN), telecommunications mediation product for billing and charging, network security stacks like SSL, IPSEC, EAP, IKE, PKI - Certificate Management, securing a popular gaming console, secure policy management (MAM, MDM) for mobile phones and consumer mobile applications and SaaS Enterprise software for unmanned retail.

What is your philosophy of innovation in product? Enhancing user experience or making operators' lives easier?

As a smart vending machine company in India, end-users and their aspirations are the central theme at Vendekin Technologies when it comes to creating products. This is a philosophy that emanates from Aroon Khatter (Founder and CEO), right down to the teams like product, marketing and sales.

To explain this philosophy further, let me give an example. We have around 30 million cabs in the world today providing services of moving people to move from one location to another. There are at least 10 major platforms bridging the gap between these commuters and cab service providers, such as OLA, UBER, GRAB, LYFT etc. Now imagine, there are around 100 million unattended retail kiosks but no one platform to connect consumers to these machines. That is the problem that the Vendekin’s product team is focused on solving. That of creating smart vending machines. The opportunity is immense with layers of complexity in solving it.

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