SELECTA SAFETY STATIONS

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Selecta, a European unattended self-service retailer, came up with a new COVID-19 innovation
to help people conveniently get their hands on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The
company’s ‘Safety Stations’ are vending machines that provide essential PPEs like facemasks
and sanitizers. Initially, the Safety Stations have been installed in locations such as Zurich
Airport and Brussels train station, with the aim of helping travelers and commuters stay safe
during the pandemic (White, 2020). Additionally, the company is adding PPEs to its
conventional vending machines too. Till May 2020, the company had equipped over 1,000
vending machines and Safety Stations with safety products in Austria, Belgium, France,
Germany and Switzerland. This number will be increased considerably in the coming months
due to the ever-increasing demand of PPEs (Selecta, 2020).

The market for vending machines providing coffee and food supplies have established itself for a
long period of time now. Given the unprecedented pandemic situations, Selecta felt a need to tap
into an unpenetrated market – ‘Safety Station’ that offer PPE. This new market has recently
become one of the most important ones as the emphasis and consequently the demand for
hygiene related products skyrocketed (Cohen and Rodgers, 2020). The market is segmented on
product-related approaches in which the segments are targeted as per the benefits sought from
the offered service. Moreover, this is compounded with geographical segmentation in which
different sectors have been identified by the company according to the daily footfall and type of
interactions involved in each of them (Manashree, 2020). For example, Airport and hospitals are
two of the sectors.

In terms of competition, Selecta is likely to exploit the gains coming from its first-mover
advantage (Lieberman and Montgomery, 1988). However, other organizations that compete in
the coffee and food market – UK vending, Link vending – will soon adapt to this. Thus, similar
to food and beverage market, positioning and ease of accessing the products from a particular
brand’s vending machine will continue to be the key competing factor. However, in the case of
PPE, the rate of repurchasing will differentiate it from the other markets as hygiene related
products may have a longer consumption period.
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only brought about an increase in demand of PPEs but has also
made the public increasingly conscious about their hygiene (Impact of COVID 19 on the
Hygiene Industry, 2020). Selecta, through its Safety Stations, aims to cater to this specific need.
Consequently, the strategic marketing objectives are:

a) Efficiently promote the new product in the market.

b) Bring in new customers for the brand.
c) Improve on the brand equity of Selecta.

The criteria to measure the effectiveness of Selecta’s aforementioned strategies involves two
measures: performance of the Safety Stations and long term association that users can
establish with the brand, enhancing brand equity. Performance can be measured through various
quantitative techniques including monthly sales data, customer complaints of empty machines,
and time intervals between replenishing a machine. Moreover, qualitative measures such as
positive word of mouth, greater awareness among the public, and a strong association of
unattended PPE vending machines with ‘Selecta’ that they become common by the brand name
itself.

Selecta, through its Safety Solutions, aims to provide convenient, on-the-go hygienic solutions.
Consequently, its value proposition is ensuring that individuals not only have convenient access
to PPEs in a wide range of social settings, but that they can purchase them with minimum risk
(Strategic Planning, 2020). This value proposition is explicitly stated through not just the name
(Safety Solutions) but also through its key brand message which is “Hygiene, Safety and
Convenience”. The target audience for Safety Solutions can be classified into two categories:
institutional and individual. The institutional segment includes both public and private segment
wherein such hygienic products are needed for the concerned people to be safe. On the other
hand, individuals would include all those people who must leave home for a variety of reasons.
Given the increased emphasis on personal hygiene because of the pandemic, there has been a
considerable increase in the demand of PPEs, and this trend is expected to continue.
Consequently, Selecta mainly uses direct marketing for its Safety Solutions, wherein either
specific Safety Solutions vending machines are placed in relevant locations, or the PPEs are
added into other smart vending machines with relevant signs that indicate their availability.
Marketing strategies reap no benefit if the brand is not positioned appropriately. Positioning of a
brand is perhaps the most crucial decision for a brand. This is because it benchmarks the brand’s
perception that stays there for a very long term. Thus, positioning decision is an important
strategic decision. As for the case of Selecta, since its inception, it has established itself as a
company with innovation at its core. Hence, positioning themselves as innovators in the market
led to an overwhelmingly positive response from the public when the introduced Safety Stations.
In extrapolation, the brand has established itself in the position of pioneers in the market –
offering key benefit of being first movers and having efficient cost models – through their
focused value proposition, constant innovation in their offerings, and consistent positioning of
the variety of product offerings they provide (Tellis and Golder, 2006). Moreover, the scale of
operations of Selecta is the major source of its competitive advantage. Being the pioneers, they
are able to surpass their competitors both locally and also in Europe.

The launch of Safety Stations have become a success sooner than expected. There is no doubt
that the offering has been a successful one in terms of Selecta’s strategic goals and its market
standing. With respect to the achievement of company’s strategic goals, the exponentially
increasing demand of Safety Stations measures the performance of the offering as well as it’s
conformance with the core value that the company offers. Moreover, public appreciation of
this initiative in the light of the prevalent pandemic and lockdown easing up means that Selecta
has been able to enhance its brand equity by tapping on the public awareness. Besides this, the
sudden spike in the demand of Safety Stations have been sufficiently met due to Selecta’s strong
economies of scale that comes from a large scale operations. Therefore, they have been able to
provide the Stations whenever required in very little period of time. Additionally, Selecta’s
previously limited market – food and beverages – was a weakness in a way that they were
unable to expand their market share. However, through addition of Safety Stations they have
turned their weakness into an opportunity and have perfectly made profitable use of it. Thus,
Safety Stations have been a success since their introduction in the 2020.

Perhaps the most important factor on which the success of Selecta’s Safety Solutions lies is the
attitude of the public towards personal hygiene. As discussed earlier, the increased emphasis on
personal hygiene due to the global pandemic has resulted in an increased demand for PPEs.
Therefore, a direct marketing strategy for Safety Solutions wherein an increased emphasis was
on ensuring that not only were the Safety Solutions vending machines were installed in the
required locations, but that the other relevant smart vending machines also offered these
products. Since Safety Solutions had the first move advantage within this market, it gained
considerable positive publicity through various digital and television agencies that further
enhanced the brand equity. However, the real challenge for Selecta lies after the pandemic ends
or is brought under control. It is increasingly likely that after the pandemic, the demands for
PPEs like masks and sanitizers will fall considerably. Additionally, if the pandemic is brought
under control, then consumers are increasingly likely to opt for medical and other stores to
purchase PPEs since they fear of crowds and contact with an infected person would have
subsided considerably. Consequently, Selecta would have to alter its marketing strategy
considerably to ensure that its Safety Solutions remain profitable and ahead of competition.

Safety Station’s marketing strategy is COVID-centric which is why its sustainability will remain
in question. In order to eradicate this sensory perception that this initiative is temporary, Selecta
should expand its focus from COVID specific issues and health concerns to general health and
hygiene issues. Failure to do so will lead to failure of this brand once the pandemic is brought
under control. Moreover, Selecta needs to diversify its product offerings and add further layers
to their overall brand in order to create a lasting relationship with customers by building a
stronger perception of their brand. They should offer more products other than coffee, food and
PPE and move towards B2B services. They can provide coffee makers to regional coffee shops
and provide juice machines to cafes and restaurants as well, which would be consistent with their
marketing objective of promoting general health and hygiene. Essentially, this would not be a
problem for them since they operate on economies of scale and have state of the art technology
so the added cost would not be a factor and the increased value proposition would do wonders in
cementing their brand legacy.
 Works Cited

Cohen, J. and Rodgers, Y., 2020. Contributing Factors To Personal Protective Equipment
Shortages During The COVID-19 Pandemic. [online] National Center for Biotechnology
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[Accessed 30 November 2020].

Lieberman, M. and Montgomery, D., 1988. First-Mover Advantages. Strategic Management

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November 2020].

Manashree, C., 2020. Bases Of Market Segmentation. [online] Economics Discussion. Available
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segmentation/31458> [Accessed 30 November 2020].

Researchandmarkets.com. 2020. Impact Of COVID 19 On The Hygiene Industry. [online]

Available at: <https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5013569/impact-of-covid-
19-on-the-hygiene-industry > [Accessed 30 November 2020].

Saylordotorg.github.io. 2020. Strategic Planning. [online] Available at:

<https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_principles-of-marketing-v2.0/s05-strategic-
planning.html> [Accessed 30 November 2020].

Selecta, 2020. Selecta Introduces A Range Of Convenient Hygiene And Safety Solutions To
Help People Feel Safe When Returning To Work And While On-The-Go. [online]
Vending Market Watch. Available at:
<https://www.vendingmarketwatch.com/equipment/news/21138812/selecta-introduces-a-
range-of-convenient-hygiene-and-safety-solutions-to-help-people-feel-safe-when-
returning-to-work-and-while-onthego> [Accessed 30 November 2020].

Tellis, G. and Golder, P., 2006. Pioneer Advantage: Marketing Logic or Marketing Legend?.
Journal of Marketing Research, 30(2).

White, M., 2020. Selecta Launches Safety Station Vending Machines Across Europe. [online]
Foodbev.com. Available at: <https://www.foodbev.com/news/selecta-launches-safety-
station-vending-machines-across-europe > [Accessed 30 November 2020].