Vending machines in neon-splashed
Tokyo have electronic eyes that evaluate customers' skin and wrinkles to
determine whether they are old enough to buy tobacco. In bathrooms at upscale
Canadian bars, vending machines with flat irons enable women to defrizz their
locks. In Abu Dhabi, the lobby of a luxury hotel has a vending machine that
dispenses gold bars and coins at more than $1,000 an ounce.
A new
breed of vending machine is proliferating around the world. Flashy and
futuristic, souped-up machines are popping up everywhere, be it the Mondrian
hotel in Miami or at Macy's in Minneapolis. They have touch screens instead of
buttons, facades that glow and pulse, and technology intended to blunt vending
machine rage — sensors that ensure that a customer's credit card is not
charged unless the chosen item has dropped. These machines are not for quarters:
purchases are measured in dollar amounts that typically start at two figures and
go up.
Changing consumer preferences about shopping and the high
cost of operating brick-and-mortar stores are inspiring premium brands to
rethink how they sell their wares. As Gower Smith, whose frim, ZoomSystems, has
created about 1,000 automated kiosks called ZoomShops, put it, "A ZoomShop costs
less than an employee".
And with examples overseas showing there is
money to be made, the so-called automated retail store (the term vending machine
is so Industrial Revolution) is venturing into fashion, beauty products,
electronics and more.
A couple of months ago, the Body Shop
cosmetics franchise began offering skin care products in deluxe machines at
airports; soon will come shopping centers. Quiksilver offers board shorts and
bikinis in machines at hotels.
A study published in 2008 by NCR
Corporation found that 86% of North American consumers were more likely to do
business with companies offering some sort of self-service. Many respondents
also said they had a more positive perception of a brand if it offered
self-service technology. This appears to be especially true of young shoppers.
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