It seems vending machines are doing a lot more than just selling candy bars and soda these days. Kraft is taking their vending machines to a whole new level by using them to study how consumers shop. The iSample’s goal is to tailor the product to the shopper in mind. Kraft teamed up with Intel on this project using an optical sensor to view the shape of the face. It then performs calculations based on the measurements of a person’s face, such as the distance between the eyes and nose.
All this information is used to determine the gender of the shopper and to place them in an age bracket. It’s done within a matter of seconds. Currently they are using these sales studying smart vending machines to do a trial of Temptations, a jelly-based dessert. There are only two machines right now, one in Chicago and another in New York. A director at Kraft stated, “Our ultimate goal is to bring value to both our retailers and our brands by better understanding consumer engagement with our products.”
It’s always cool to see new technology being implemented in what was once a simple snack machine. This is the kind of focus that IDS loves to see in custom vending machines!