Automatic_Merchandiser_June-July_2021 - 24

4.3%
CHART 7A:
Vended share of sales by product category
● Cold beverages
● Snacks
● Candy
● Confections
● Healthy
● Food
● Hot beverages
● Ice cream/frozen
● Other*
* Includes non-edible items
15.5%
10.1%
8.2%
2020
3.8%
14.8%
17.5%
5.3%
1.9%
In 2020, almost 60% of operators
reported considerable losses in
the number of locations they served;
by comparison, nearly 60% reported
location gains in 2019. Nearly onethird
of respondents, or 28%, said the
number of locations they operated did
not change.
Cashless acceptance on vending
machines improved in 2020. Only
11% of this year's respondents said
they don't use any cashless payment
systems, compared with 16% in 2020.
Operators reporting 100% cashless
vending rose to 22% in 2020, up from
14% in 2019.
Additionally, there were reported
improvements in the use of data collection
technologies in 2020. Operators
used " pandemic downtime " to make
networking upgrades from manual and
handheld processes to smart devices
and telemetry systems. Additionally,
the number of operators using vending
management systems reached 60% in
2020, up from 50% in 2019.
Still, about 40% of operators said
they took to pencil and paper to reconcile
sales through vending machines
last year, like 2019.
GOINGS-ON IN MICRO MARKETS
The number of vending operations
with micro markets last year was
43%, unchanged from 2019. Of
24 Automatic Merchandiser * June/July 2021
3.6%
* Includes cooperative service vending, condoms, toll passes, repair services,
rental equipment (Redbox, etc.), chips and crackers
those micro market operators, 44%
reported an increase in the number
of markets they offered in 2020.
Concerning micro market dollar volume,
37% of operators reported an
increase in 2020, compared with 80%
the previous year. Decreased revenue
was reported by 47% of operators last
year, compared with only 3% in 2019.
Most markets occupied manufacturing
and office locations last
year. Increases occurred in manufacturing
sites, as well as in hospitals,
healthcare facilities and other
semi-public locations, including
large apartment complexes. Office
locations declined considerably.
Successful and profitable micro
markets require merchandising
overhauls to bring new customers into
a store, and to get existing customers
to spend more. In 2019, almost 60%
of micro market operations reported
monthly product updates and repositioning.
The merchandising refresh
rate dropped to 27% in 2020, attributable
to pandemic-related restrictions.
Last year, in a positive development,
micro markets were widely recognized
as a corporate foodservice solution,
sometimes replacing - or complementing
- sited cafeterias. What's more,
the number of markets functioning as
cafeteria alternatives rose in 2020. In a
separate survey, 52 of 60 operators said
they " definitely " think the micro market
could replace manual foodservice.
In terms of employee population
thresholds, the number of locations
with 50 or fewer people served by
micro markets surged last year. In 2019,
Some 51% of operators reported having
markets in this lower demographic
range, compared with 30% last year.
Significantly reduced office occupancies
drove this shift, which also saw the
50-150 employee location drop to 26%
in 2020 from 64% the previous year.
Micro markets remained profitable
in 2020, with 68% of operators reporting
profit margins of 10% or more,
compared with 52% in 2019.
VEND CATEGORIES
Packaged cold drink venders and
glassfront merchandisers were the most
widely operated machine types in 2020.
The number of full-line coffee, refrigerated
and frozen food machines continued
to decline in absolute numbers and
as a percentage of the equipment mix.
Sales of fresh foods and frozen, on the
other hand, increased market share in
the micro market space.
6%
23%
CHART 7B:
Micro market share of sales by product category
● Cold beverages
● Snacks
● Candy
● Confections
● Healthy
● Food
● Hot beverages
● Ice cream/frozen
● Other*
6.9% 9.2%
4.2%
12.7%
2020
24.6%
19.4%
6.8%
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