Blog - Intelligent Vending Ltd

Office Closed for Festive Season

Just a quick note to let everyone know that the Intelligent Vending office will be closed for the festive season  from the end of 23^rd Dec 2011 and will be reopened on 3^rd Jan 2012:

• Calls made during this time will still be answered and will be handled by our 24/7 call centre.
• Any urgent issues will still be taken care of throughout this period by a member of staff on call.
• While we will still be accepting orders throughout this period, they may not be processed until our return in the New Year.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our customers for their support in 2011 as we wish you all the best for the Festive Season and a very happy and prosperous New Year from all at Intelligent Vending.

Posted in: Intelligent Vending Ltd
Tags: closed, festive season, vending machines

Ohhhh…Japan

Yet again, Japan have made technological advances in the vending world the rest of us can but dream of.

Intel, Snaken and Okaya Electronics have taken the next step in touch screen vending machines. This latest incarnation boasts a 65-inch HD screen (!) and understated graphics so as to drawn people in with out being garish and obnoxious.

GizModo called it the “vending machine of tomorrow” thanks to the 65″ screen, which like its predecessors features a transparent screen so consumers can still see the product inside, whilst being entertained by a touch screen – similar to that on a smart phone – but with subtle animations of birds  that do not distract from he transparency of the machines touch controlled window.

To make this even more exciting and intuitive, the machine has an inbuilt camera to identify customers based on age and gender to therefore generate demographic appropriate adverts. What makes this machine extra special, is, should there be an emergency, it will display evacuation routes.

Although currently vending snacks and drinks, this machine could open up to a potential market including cosmetics and wine.

What do you think to this? Can you see super intuitive vending machines working over here England? Would you like to see adverts based on your gender or age? As ever, leave a comment below and let us know how you feel!!

Posted in: Intelligent Vending Ltd, Vending Machine News, Vending Overseas
Tags: cool, japan, touchscreen, vending machines

BACK IN STOCK

Just to brighten up your Monday morning, please take note that …. (drumroll please) … Cadbury Creme Eggs are now back in stock on the website!

We have fantastic prices on a wide range of cadbury chocolates, walkers crisps and various soft drinks on our online shop, perfect for vending machines, a treat for your office, or even just to take home and munch your way through!

Enjoy!

Posted in: Intelligent Vending Ltd, Product News
Tags: chocolate, snacks, vending machines

Pay with potatoes!

Lays Crisps (Walkers in the UK) have introduced a new promotional machine to show how fresh and pure their crisps really are. Instead of paying with spare change, consumers are asked to put a whole potato into the vending machine and then watch as it is washed, peeled, sliced and fried to be turned into the ready salted crisps they know and love, quite the contrast to last weeks post about free crisps when the recession is mentioned!

This is a digital video, but gives a great insight into how the machine will work and could potentially brighten up snack time, especially as it shows the whole process of getting a bag of crisps, right from real potato, to being sealed into their bag for freshness.

Lays Vending Machine

Here at Intelligent Vending, we think this is a fab machine, exciting to watch and also serves as a reminder as to where food actually comes from, the act of putting in a real, possibly field-muddy potato brings the bag of crisps back to earth, especially for children who are perhaps so used to eating from a packet that they wouldn’t even know that crisps are made from potatoes grown in muddy fields.

Posted in: Customised Vending, Public Vending, Vending Machine News, Vending Overseas
Tags: crisps, Innovation, Lays, vending machines, Walkers

The Smart Butcher

A new vending machine in the U S of A has been released recently, selling, of all things, fresh meat! Being labelled the “smart butcher,” this machine is vending all of your favourite meat products, from rib-eye steak to pork chops! The businessmen trialling the idea, Chase Evans and Rob Harrison, are currently vending out of Lil Mart, Alabama but are confident they will find the perfect location for their machine, likely somewhere rural with little to no access to fresh meat markets.

The Smart Butcher is equipped with cell phone technology to inform Rob Harrison when the machine needs to be restocked, and also when a sale is made. Customers are able to pay with credit or debit card or cash, making the machine versatile and accessable to many people, who are also finding that many of the products vended are cheaper than at their local grocery store!

Posted in: Customised Vending, Product News, Public Vending, Vending Machine News
Tags: meat vending machines, Smart Butcher vending machines, vending machines

Egg Vending Machine

German animal rights group NOAH recently set up an ‘egg vending machine‘ in a busy town centre to try and promote awareness of the poor conditions suffered by ‘battery farmed’ chickens. The vending machine contained sixteen live chickens in a compartmentalised version of a typical snack vending machine, with a sticker reading ‘Egg Machine’ affixed across the top in large red letters.

Although the vending machine looks realistic, it doesn’t actually dispense eggs. Instead, the machine dispenses free shopping cart tokens with “CHECK THE EGG” branding. Also printed on the tokens is a quick guide to the country’s egg labelling system. This consists of the numbers 0 to 3 with respective farming methods (0 = organic, 1 = free range, 2 = deep-litter and 3 = cage).

The hope is that this will act as a reminder and handy reference for shoppers when buying eggs, which must all have this number on to show their origin.

NOAH is similar to the UK animal rights group PETA. More information on the group, including pictures and videos of their egg vending machine can be seen on NOAH’s website.

Posted in: Vending Machine News, Vending Overseas
Tags: chicken vending machine, egg vending machine, vending machines, vending news

Social Media Vending Machines

Earlier this month, Pepsi revealed a prototype of a ‘social media vending machine’. The social media aspect of the vending machine is a feature which allows customers to send drinks voucher codes to their friends, which can then be redeemed on other similar vending machines.

The vending machine is operated with a touch-screen, which initially presents three options to the user. One of these options is ‘Gift or Redeem a Drink’. Once a drink has been selected, an optional video message can be recorded and sent to a friend’s mobile phone, together with a text message which includes a code that can be entered in to any other ‘Pepsi Social Vending Unit’.

Some social media experts have received the concept well; suggesting that it has been long overdue. However, others have voiced concerns over privacy issues.

The vending machine also provides nutritional information for the products, which should help to support the USA’s campaign to improve dietary habits.

Whether or not this particular vending machine will take off is yet to be seen, but it may be a glimpse of the vending machines of the future. It is certainly not likely to be the final attempt at integrating the phenomenon of social media to increase vending machine sales.

For those who are interested, there is a YouTube video of the social media vending machine’s interface in action.

Posted in: Vending Machine News
Tags: social media, vending machines, vending news

New Vending Machine Regulation: Taiwan

Many vending machines in Taiwan will now be subject to a new law following recent regulation changes made by the government. The new regulation comes in to affect this month and states that all public drinks vending machines in Taiwan will now be required to have a recycle-bin situated within 50m of the machine.

As explained by an Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) executive, the new regulation has been implemented in order to close a loophole in their current waste recycling policies. Shopping centres and other shops are already obliged to recycle waste containers and batteries – now there will also be a requirement throughout the country for vending machines and beverage shops to provide recycle bins for customers.

It is reported that vending machine operators who do not comply with the new rule can be fined between $60,000 and $300,000 (Taiwan Dollars). At the time of writing, this works out to approximately &163;1,200 – &163;6,200 (UK Sterling), $2,000 – $10,100 (US Dollars) or €l1,450 – €l7,300 (Euros).

Posted in: Vending Machine News, Vending Overseas
Tags: drinks vending machines, Vending Machine News, vending machines

Crab Vending Machines: Part 2

In our last post, we spoke about the recently reported live crab vending machines in China. Now another crab vending machine has been brought to our attention; this vending machine is from – you guessed it – Japan.

A video of this vending machine can be seen at the following link:

Crab Vending Machine in Japan

This crab vending machine seems to have been around for a while; and based on the age of the video, predates the crab vending machine in China.

This Japanese vending machine could certainly be considered a little more sinister than the retail service provided by the crab vending machines in China, as it has been incorporated in to a popular arcade claw vending machine game. For those who missed the previous article, the crab vending machine in China was refrigerated to a temperature low enough to send the crabs in to a state of hibernation.

Anyone who has been to a seaside town or games arcade is likely to be familiar with these ‘claw’ vending machine games – for those who aren’t, the aim is to position a mechanical claw above a prize and try to pick it up, and then have it survive the journey back to the collection area.

This vending machine seems to operate under the same principal, the only difference being that live crabs are the prize instead of a nice cuddly toy. It even features retro Mario style music to really help get you in crab hunting mode.

Still… Can’t see these vending machines catching on in the UK anytime soon.

Posted in: Vending Machine News, Vending Overseas
Tags: vending in japan, vending machines

Wine Vending Machines en France

The French are well known for their love of wine. Back in 2008, wine enthusiast Astrid Terzian developed the idea of wine vending machines (or ‘distributeurs automatiques de vin’) for use in French supermarkets. The vending machines store a large quantity of wine (up to 1000 litres), which can be dispensed – or pumped – in to containers supplied by the consumer.

The motivations behind the concept are both environmental and economical. By removing the need for individually packaged bottles, wine can be transported more efficiently and cost-effectively. This of course helps to bring costs down – and combined with the fact that consumers use their own packaging; the carbon footprint which results from traditional wine distribution processes is significantly reduced. The savings are passed on to the consumer too, with a litre of wine said to cost as little as around 1.5 Euros.

While some connoisseurs may turn their noses up at the idea of DIY wine storage, it doesn’t appear as if it will see the end of the concept. Apparently there are eight supermarkets in France which have adopted the vending machines so far, and there are rumours the machines will hit the USA in the next year. Others have reported the existence of these vending machines in Quebec, Canada for some time too.

This method differs somewhat to the wine vending machines recently incorporated in Pennsylvania (see our blog post on this: Wine Vending Machines) which dispense full bottles, but in a way which complies with the strict laws governing the sale of alcohol in the heavily controlled state. It is unclear how (or if) the French style wine vending machines attempt to restrict the sale of alcohol to underage users.

Posted in: Vending Machine News, Vending Overseas
Tags: vending machines, vending news, wine vending