Andy Gurney, the NVCS Sales Director, got together with Mathew Morgan, his opposite number at 365 Retail Markets, to analyse why their long-standing business partnership continues to be mutually beneficial. PV Editor Ian Reynolds-Young was the fly on the wall…
Andy Gurney was a highly respected figure in the world of vending even before he was appointed Sales Director at NVCS just over a year ago. Last time I interviewed him, he was helping to launch The Great Vending Pub Crawl, which raised in excess of £8,250.00 this year in support of EdUKaid. Mathew Morgan, now at 365 Retail Markets, was previously Sales Director at Millsons Vending, so between them, there’s not much they don’t know about the business – not least, how much it’s changed in the past 5 years – and how the pace of that change is accelerating all the time.
These days, they face each other from opposite sides of the desk; but they do so with the same perspective on innovation: ‘bring it on’. For instance, Andy is already looking forward to adopting 365’s new User Interface, (which will be launched at Vendex North this month). Having recently opened NVCS’s first Micro Market, which he says is ‘ticking all the boxes’, he’s keen to embrace whatever innovation that emerges which promises positive change for the business and in his experience, ‘that’s what 365 is all about’.
‘I’ve gone from fixing shoppers nearly 30 years ago to seeing the latest smart fridges, and I think it’s taken a lot of people a long time to get on board, but it’s the latest technology, and you never want to go backwards’, he says. ‘‘Traditional’ vending machines have improved beyond recognition in my time, but however good they are, they restrict what a business like us can offer our clients simply because of their construction. The products they sell have to conform to size restrictions and when you want to offer a wide range of fresh food, that’s like having one arm tied behind your back.
‘At NVCS, we produce our own, excellent food through Green Farm Fresh, which ought to give us a huge commercial advantage; but without the means to retail these products in an unattended environment, we’re held back. And when I say ‘retail’, you might think of Prêt a Manger. As a customer, when you walk in you’re greeted by a welcoming, attractive environment and you have a vast array of products to choose from. It’s a lot more satisfying to pick up a sandwich, look at it and think, ‘I want this’, than it is to look through a little window, push a button and then wait for a door to open.Vending hasn’t been able to offer that discerning purchasing process.’
‘That’s exactly what we’ve been working for years to achieve’, Mat says. ‘It was our aim to offer a solution for every location that embraced providing the machines, the software and even the fitting, becoming the ultimate ‘one stop shop’ for unattended retail.’
‘That’s also been our philosophy, says Andy. ‘There are three parts to our operation and each one, in it’s own sector, leads the way. Green Farm Coffee is run by a roasting expert whose expertise has led to him being runner up in this year’s coffee brewing championships and a high-quality Barista who is very respected by his peers.
Green Farm Fresh is a noted food producer whose mantra is ‘always fresh!’. They make food every day and deliver it to our customers daily. And as the vending industry knows, our Technical and Operations Director Chris Skipper is also the Chairman of The AVA. We aim to be the best at everything we do.’
‘It’s another similarity we share’, says Mat. ‘365 was famous for its deep experience in self-service retail, smart stores and software, while Cantaloupe had strong capabilities in payments, telemetry and connected devices. Operators today are managing payments, inventory, devices, data and consumer engagement across multiple retail formats and locations so by acquiring Cantaloupe, 365 was able to support operators with a much broader set of capabilities – from vending and payments to micro markets, smart stores and connected retail. Of course by that time, Cantaloupe had already bought SB Software and I remember Ravi Venkatesan the Cataloupe CEO saying at the time that they chose SB Soft because they had ‘the best customer delight of any company that we found’. (The boffins behind SB Soft’s success came across as an integral part of the package).
There’s a short pause to accommodate a bout of chuckling at Ravi’s characteristically colourful turn of phrase; but the more you think about, the more accurate the idea of providing ‘customer delight’ is to describe the missions of both 365 and NVCS.
‘We do have similar goals’, Andy says, ‘and thats part of what makes coming to work such a pleasure. 365 are focussed on providing the best that technology innovation can offer and that can only help us, number one, grow our product, but number two, give a much more modern, refreshing, premium service that people want now. Think about it: if you, say, go to any train station, and you go into Smiths, or M&S, you’re in a cashless, unattended environmet. The best names in retailing are embracing the technology and the same thing is available to us, so we too can provide customers with the ultimate in modern shopping experiences.’
365 and NVCS are, you might say, ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’. Add that common vision to Andy’s commitment to ‘hard work, passion, and changing the way that you think’ and it’s easy to see why the partnership continues to deliver extraordinary results – to the benefit of all parties.
And by the way, the fact that Andy and Mat get along like a house on fire has its own advantages…
We’ll see you at at Vendex.
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