VENDING MACHINES

IN CHINA
• In China the development of the vending
business began in the 1990's. Currently, the
vending business in China is considered to
be one of the most promising areas, although
previously the Chinese were pessimistic about
it.
• According to experts, the number of vending
machines in China has increased by 10 times
over the past few years. China's number of
vending machines is expected to exceed 1.4
million units in 2022.
• Despite the fact that the production of vending
machines has been actively developing for
about 10 years, Chinese machines are already
able to compete with counterparts from
America, Canada and other countries.
• Currently, the most common products that
can be found in vending machines are
snacks, vegetables, coffee, boot covers,
toys, clothes, chewing gum and more.
There are also massage chairs and vending
machines offering music products, for
example.
• The vending business is so popular in
China that it is being actively joined by
mobile operators and large banks, which
are developing special programs that
allow you to pay in vending machines
using a mobile phone.
• An interesting vending machine has
recently appeared in China, offering free
travel for handing over glass bottles.
That is, you hand over the bottle,
lowering it into a special receiver, and
the machine credits the travel card
bonus points that can be paid for a ride.
• There are also vending machines with
crabs. Crabs in vending machines are
placed in airtight bags with water or in
ready-to-cook plastic containers, where
the temperature is maintained, so that
the crabs are half asleep.
• For this reason, the Chinese were
initially wary of such machines,
believing that crabs are dead there.
However, when the matter became
clear, the excitement around the "crab"
machines increased sharply.
• Although crabs are not the most
amazing thing you can find in the
Chinese vending industry.
• So, in Beijing in 2013, there
was installed a huge machine that
rents cars. All you have to do is pay for
the service, enter the user`s data -
and the electric car will go down to
the new owner on the parking lot. A
huge elevator is used for this.
•The coronavirus pandemic has reshaped
how we purchase goods. When a top priority
is to slow the spread of a virus, having things
delivered can help some people.
•Vending machines in China are now mobile.
They are made by Beijing-based Neolix and
can offer a drink or snack on the go.
•These machines carry 2,400 liters worth
of stuff. Just hail one and pay with your
phone.
•They can travel up to 50 km/h with a 100
km range, making it ideal for cities and
high foot-traffic areas like colleges or
large office campuses.
•Such machines are used in Longlingshan
Ecological Park, in a southwestern suburb of
Wuhan.
•While they are designed to stop when
visitors wave their hands, the vehicles can
also be hailed through a mini program on a
smartphone.
 At the end of 2020, Forbes
reported that Neolix had
started to work on driverless
vehicles to serve food and
specifically cited partnerships
with KFC and Pizza Hut.
It is the largest coffee chain
in China (yes, Luckin Coffee
exceeded Starbucks in this
market). Thanks to its digital
strategy and app, in only two
years and a half, Luckin
Coffee surpassed Starbucks
which took about twenty
years to get where it
currently is.
Luckin Coffee will launch two types
of machines: Luckin Coffee Express
and Luckin Pop Mini. The first one
will offer freshly brewed coffee while
the second one will offer Luckin
Coffee products and other types of
products as water or sodas.