Comment: By Ian Reynolds-Young
There’s more to come on this story, not least because You & Yours – in the absence of an ‘official’ contributor from the AVA for its feature on the vending industry, turned for help to Planet Vending. In fact, I’ve just returned from Media City Salford having recorded my contribution to tomorrow’s edition, in which, as best I could, I expressed my enthusiasm and optimism for the future of the vending industry.
I hope I don’t live to regret it.
Time alone will tell if, a: I did ‘alright’ and managed to string together a coherent sentence, and b: if my comments have been edited fairly and used in their original context. (I’ve every confidence that they will be, by the way).
The story begins with a Producer / Researcher from You & Yours getting in touch with the AVA at the end of last week. He explains what he wants and lets it be known that he has a tight schedule. He wants a spokesperson who is knowledgeable and eloquent and he wants that person ‘tomorrow’ (for a chat on the phone) and then today (Tuesday, 19 May), for recording.
Now, given that at the moment we are in a period of interregnum, AVA CEO wise; (Gillian White has the helm capably, but she still has her ‘day job’ to do); and add to that the fact that we’re in the middle of the chaotic exhibition season and it’s no wonder he ran into difficulty when he asked that very, very busy people should drop everything to expose themselves to the huge audience that follows Radio 4’s ‘consumer magazine’.
More worrying yet, he wanted to discuss a specific market report. The report, by Euromonitor (a copy of which will set you back a cool £650, by the way), reflects a vending industry that is very different to the one we work in, if its stated main conclusions are anything to go by. Indeed, sources of ours imply that the report has met with derision in some quarters of the AVA and indeed the EVA…
Read on.
Jacqui Magill, AVA Membership Administrator
E-Mail To Members
I’m writing to let you know about a feature on vending set to appear this week on Radio 4’s You & Yours consumer programme. The basis of the feature is a report by Euromonitor, which states that the majority of products sold through vending saw a decrease in sales in 2014 and that vending machines are in decline in the UK due to renewed pledges to tackle obesity.
Costa is participating in the programme as are representatives from Euromonitor and Planet Vending. Peter Fox, creator of the vending machine that acts like a village shop, (see it here), will also be interviewed.
Having spent a significant amount of time reviewing extracts from the report, the AVA board finds some of the conclusions to be inaccurate, spurious and misleading with regard to our industry.
For this reason, and due to the reluctance of the production team to accommodate our requests for further detailed information about the report and its sources, we have decided to decline a spoken role on the show and have instead prepared a written submission in response to the report and its claims. The AVA represents a growing and successful industry that is innovating in the areas of technology, payment methods, product offer and exceeding consumer expectations – based on authentic member feedback and accurate information.
Along with our industry partners in Europe, there is a consensus that this is the most effective way to represent the interests of our industry in a measured and effective way, with commentary based on sound facts and industry insight. Later this year, once we have the latest AVA and EVA market and consumer data, we will be undertaking PR via all available channels to reinforce the messages showing the strength of our industry.
We will circulate a full summary of the show for your information later this week.
So, that’s the background; that’s how come I came to be asked to fill the void and as for ‘what happened next’, well that’s for another post.
