Vending Of The Future

Many real estate professionals have been approached by one vending company or another during their careers. While most of us have shrugged off these "vendors" as pestering annoyances. However, the future is looking very bright for the vending industry and is bringing more popular and exciting consumer products closer to everyone one. Kiosks such as this iPod vending machine are poping up all over the country.   Here is a demonstration video link from the manufacturer.

http://www.zoomsystems.com/videos/demo/zoom_demo.html

These machines are making the most popular consumer products even easier to purchase. The best part is these machines don't need very much space. In some cases, these machines can be placed inside walls so as to appear like a small store front inside any building or common area. If you can pull phone lines and power to the area, you are equipped to install one of these state-of-the-art retail stations.

Proactiv Solutions has had a successful run operating from common area carts or retail merchandising units (RMUs). National advertising campaigns aligned with Hollywood celebrities has helped with sustainability. However, this product typically is the top seller among mall kiosks and have provided with landlords with some stable income over the years. However, in order to combat the owner / operator issue that many consumer products face, they have developed a vending kiosk that brings the product even closer to the consumer.

Sony has also explored the non-traditional retailing strategies and brought its products closer to the consumer. Again, just as Apple and Proactiv, they decided to enter the vending world to bring their products closer to the consumer while reducing costs to enter the market. While you can't purchase computers or other large electronic equipment from the machines, they do carry mp3 machines, headphones, ear buds and other smaller electronics.

Many other major retailers and consumer products are entering the vending business to shrink the supply chain. This means that more venues will be attractive to vending type facilities whether it be in a major high-rise office building, shopping center, street corner, etc... The sky is the limit to this type of service and provides landlords with another non-traditional revenue stream.  Also, these types of opportunities require very little or no cost to the landlord.