New Retail --- Unmanned Vending Machine (Writer: Zhang Hui)

New Retail --- Unmanned Vending Machine

As an important branch of new retail, unmanned vending machines have broad prospects in the future. With the maturity of IoT, AI recognition, and mobile payment technologies, their operational efficiency and user experience have significantly improved. According to data from iMedia Consulting, the size of China's vending machine market will exceed 30 billion yuan in 2023, with an average annual growth rate of over 15%. Its core advantages lie in low labor costs, 24-hour service capabilities, and precise coverage of high-frequency consumption scenarios (such as transportation hubs and office buildings), which meet the fast-paced demands of urban areas.

The trend of industry upgrading is obvious: on the one hand, equipment is developing towards intelligence, supporting functions such as facial recognition, dynamic pricing, and remote monitoring; On the other hand, the product structure has expanded from traditional beverages and snacks to high value-added categories such as freshly ground coffee, fresh food, and pharmaceuticals, and some models even offer customized services. The sinking market and emerging overseas regions have become new growth points, with an annual growth rate of over 20% in the Southeast Asian market.

The challenges lie in equipment maintenance costs, supply chain management, and homogeneous competition. In the future, bottlenecks need to be overcome through technological iteration (such as AI replenishment prediction), scenario innovation (community group buying self pickup points), and cross-border cooperation. With the deepening of the concept of "contactless consumption", unmanned vending machines will continue to penetrate the field of life services and become an important component of smart city infrastructure.

Writer Zhang hui