Tag: custom vending machine

Fitness Vending Machines for Summer

Posted on by John Van Horn

With the weather heating up faster than ever, this is the season to get fit! From the track to the gym, people usually use the summer months as a chance to get out and get back into shape. Whether you’re serving bodybuilders or casual joggers, no one can achieve maximum fitness without the right mix of refreshment and nutrition. Fortunately, Intelligent Dispensing Solutions can craft a fitness vending machine perfect for all types of health enthusiasts!

Whether you run a busy gym or a laid-back country club, a custom gym vending machine makes a perfect counterpart of any place where people work out and play sports. Aside from providing sports drinks and energy bars, fitness vending units can dispense key accessories like weight gloves and goggles, which will save your clients valuable time they’d otherwise spend at a sporting goods store. And thanks to iQ technology

Touch Screen vs Keypads for Custom Vending Machines

Posted on by John Van Horn

While there was once a time when the classic 10-digit keypad was the only means of making an order on a vending machine. However, thanks to the vast advances being made in the world of custom vending machines, customers enjoy a variety of transaction methods, between credit card receptacles and futuristic touch screens. If you’re torn between which type of interface to use for your customer base, consider the pros and cons of each:

Touch Screen: By utilizing a touch screen on your smart supply vending machine, you will instant lure in customers who live for the latest technology. After all, who doesn’t want to use the shiniest new device on the block? Not only do touch screens look fancy, but they can put more product selections than ever right at the fingertips of your consumers.

Keypad: While touch screens ooze innovation, few things are as reliable as the classics. While touch screens can be easily damaged or destroyed, a keypad is likely to stand the test of time in the long run.

At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong way to represent your vending product. Thanks to Intelligent Dispensing Solutions, your custom vending machine will be an industry-leading product no matter what accessories it runs on!

Want a Pepsi? All You Need is to Dish Out a ‘Like’

Posted on by John Van Horn

Intelligent Dispensing SolutionsIn today’s ever-evolving age of custom vending machines, there are more and more ways consumers can pay for their favorite snacks and beverages. You probably know by now that you can snag a cola with cash, credit cards, and soon your smartphone, but did you know that you can get refreshment just buy using Facebook? Pepsi seems to think it’s a good idea.

According to BostInno, a new Pepsi social media vending machine is giving out soda samples in exchange for simple Facebook ‘likes.’ Dubbed simply the “Like Machine,” the vending product works exactly how it sounds. All users need to do is access Facebook via either their smartphone or the machine’s built-in touch screen and “Like” Pepsi, which will prompt the machine to give them a fresh cola.

Pepsi tested out this new custom Facebook vending machine at a Beyonce concert in Belgium, and the fan reaction was overwhelmingly positive. After all, who doesn’t want free soda for using Facebook, something used daily by millions of people anyway? Not only does Pepsi’s “Like Machine” represent an excellent marketing strategy, it shows just how advanced the creations of modern vending machine manufacturers have become.

You can see the machine in action below. Would you like to see more integration between social media and the world of vending?

Getting Creative with Retail This Summer

Posted on by John Van Horn

Intelligent Dispensing SolutionsIf you operate any type of retail business, you know by now that summer is one of the hottest sales seasons of the year, whether you sell clothing or technology. Whether you have a large stand-alone store or are part of a mall, chances are your establishment is going to get flooded as people gain more free time to hit the streets and shop. And while this is certainly a good problem to have, you might find yourself overwhelmed by a high volume of customers if you aren’t properly staffed or equipped.

Fortunately, using a automated retail vending machine this summer can solve many of your retail woes during busy season, as it automates a whole range of tasks that you probably thought only a human can do. Short-staffed? A retail machine can serve as an extra checkout center so that your employees can spend more time providing face-to-face service to your client base. If you want to shorten store hours and enjoy some much-needed summer relaxation, a custom vending machine can sell your goods long after you have locked up for the night. You’ll likely see your shrink decrease significantly once you go custom, as the products built by Intelligent Dispensing Solutions are built with maximum security in mind.

Social Vending Machines: The Trend is Here to Stay

Posted on by John Van Horn

We’ve previously highlighted vending machines that incorporate the world’s ever-popular social media options, and it seems like the trend is here to stay. While vending devices have been long standing favorites when it comes to refreshment, technology has evolved to allow them to become modern, computerized products that keep up with today’s fast paced world. As such, it’s only natural that more and more custom vending machines are going to pop up that bridge the gap between social media and classic convenience.

According to Vending Times, Gigigo Mobile Services plans on unveiling their new social media vending machine platform at the CTIA trade show next week. This new technology is meant to allow machines to interact with brands via social networks, much like a previous Pepsi promotion that allowed customers to send tweets in exchange for sodas.

Social vending is just one of the many exciting trends coming to the industry. While vending machines have always thrived on convenience, they can now be considered a consumer’s best friends. Our machines are getting to know us, and can tap into the things we care deeply about.

If you’re feeling inspired and want to provide this convenience to your own customers, visit Intelligent Dispensing Solutions today. Our custom vending machines are built specifically to your needs, no matter how futuristic.

Book Vending Machines Continue to Pop Up

Posted on by John Van Horn

We previously highlighted the Bibli-O-Mat vending machine in Canada, and it seems that even more book vending machines are popping up all over. Reading is a universally-loved hobby, and it seems like custom vending machines full of books are here to stay.

According to TribLive, a machine at a Pittsburgh YMCA dispenses books and DVDs from a nearby public library. The Northland Public Library uses the machine as a means of expanding their reach, allowing them to do business in a place that attracts customers from all over town.

“I think libraries are really striving to meet people where they are,” said Susan Herman, who uses the machine to find books to read to her two children. Northland is the busiest library in the area, and by extending their business to a popular YMCA they have even more potential for success.

We love hearing unique vending stories such as this one from Pittsburgh. Are you looking to be the next one? Thanks to the vending machine manufacturers at Intelligent Dispensing Solutions, you can turn any of your vending visions into a real machine that does real business. From selling merchandise after store hours to protecting valuable products, we can make the perfect machine for your company.

Vending Machines Could Be Mobile Payment Catalyst

Posted on by John Van Horn

As futuristic as the idea of mobile payments are, people perform them every single day. With mobile apps available for everything from Wal-Mart to Amazon.com, more and more products are becoming available to us at the click of a virtual button on the touchscreens of our smartphones. And while our cell phones haven’t replaced cash or credit cards as one of the primary ways to pay for goods, Mobile Payments Today believes vending machine transactions could help ignite the trend.

According to the report, local or office vending machines can have a significant effect on customer habits. USA Technologies SVP Mike Lawlor chimed in on the industry’s potential, stating “(Vending) is an everyday, everywhere part of your life, and because of that, it is a catalyst for consumer change in behavior.”

In addition to vending products being frequently used by everyday people, modern day custom vending machines encourage new-age payment methods. Companies such as Pepsico have encouraged users to use Twitter in exchange for a drink, and the Coca-Cola brand is currently testing mobile payment methods in Austin, Texas.

If any single product could bring mobile payment to the forefront, it is the custom vending machine. If you are a vending machine operator looking to be at the forefront of the growing trend, Intelligent Dispensing Solutions can certainly help you implement a cell phone vending machine payment method!

French Man Robotically “Reaches” Into Vending Machines

Posted on by John Van Horn

Intelligent Dispensing SolutionsEver wish you had a slippery, slim extra arm that could slide inside a vending machine from the bottom and grab your favorite snack for you? A creative French inventor was likely thinking along those lines when he created a robot that can sneak inside of a vending product and grab whatever it likes.

According to the Huffington Post, the man is no thief, just someone who built a very expensive robotic concept that has the potential to infiltrate the office vending machines of the world. As shown in his video below, the robot can go inside of a vending machine, invert itself, and grab a drink before coming back down. We don’t think vending machine manufacturers have anything to fear when it comes to this robot going public, but it is a nifty innovation that could serve a more productive purpose someday, such as remote machine maintenance.

Even if robots do someday take over the vending machine business, you will never have to worry about theft when working with Intelligent Dispensing Solutions. Our state-of-the-art custom vending machines are specifically designed with loss prevention in mind, so even the craftiest of would-be vending thieves will be hard pressed to take away any of your product.

Solar Vending Machines on the Horizon

Posted on by John Van Horn

As much as vending machines evolve over the years, they all have one thing in common. Whether they dispense batteries or nachos, vending machines essentially all run on electricity.  However, according to Times Free Press, a humble Cattanooga company is looking to change the way vending machines operate entirely.

The article reports that a company called VendomMax has been working on a custom vending machine that runs entirely on solar power. VendoMax co-founders Rob Creswell and Mark Hixson officially unveiled the machine today, and the product will be available at a Las Vegas vending trade show next week. The vending machine manufacturers are hoping this machine can get some quality momentum among top beverage companies.

This unique custom solar vending machine will come in two models: A moveable version on wheels and a more traditional fixed product. Solar power is still a developing trend among a variety of different industries, and we are certainly interested on seeing how it develops over the next few years. Vending machines, especially ours, eat up a ton of energy, and a truly sustainable way to keep them running could change the business for the better. If you are looking to get a head start on the innovative side of the industry, our custom vending solutions are the perfect place to start!

The NAMA OneShow is Here

Posted on by John Van Horn

It has been a long time coming, but the wait is finally over! The NAMA OneShow, one of the vending industry’s biggest conventions, is finally upon us this week, allowing members of the vending world to convene, celebrate, and usher in another year of exciting vending innovations. There is plenty to see and do at this year’s NAMA, from keynote speeches from esteemed figures such as Newt Gingrich and Magic Johnson to appearances from some of the biggest vending machine manufacturers in the business.

If you can think of a major brand in the world of automatic dispensing, chances are they will be at the NAMA OneShow from April 24th to the 26th. From Hershey’s to PepsiCo, all of the major players in the snack, drink, and vending technology worlds will be on hand to show off their latest and greatest products. Not only is the OneShow a great opportunity for smaller vendors to get their name out to the world in a massive Vegas exhibition center, it is also a special change to witness some of the most exciting custom vending machines that will be hitting the market soon.

The folks behind Intelligent Dispensing Solutions will be at the OneShow this week, and will be looking forward to spreading the word about our own custom vending machines while seeing the very best our beloved industry has to offer!