Regular PV columnist Gillian White, (pictured) reports from the 66th NAMA convention in Las Vegas.
Viva Las Vegas; even as the Senior First Officer made this announcement on landing, you knew it was going to be a frenetic week! The city with the marketing slogan ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ forgets that reports on Vending Shows are hugely important to our community.
I’ll focus on what was on show rather than a business critique of ROI, economic impacts or investment; there’ll be no comment on ‘bang for buck’; that’s for ‘y’all’ to ponder!
I was lucky to be one of the 5000 visitors to the show enjoying 250 exhibition stands across Vending and Office Coffee. There were as many events designed to educate as well as entertain and certainly, the sessions I witnessed were busy, buzzing and energetic. This vending malarkey is a serious business in the USA!
Screens, communication and connectivity were the main eye-catchers as you walked the show floor. From VendScreen to Diji-Touch, screens and payment in all forms and sizes were the order of the day.
An obvious extension of vending, gathering a lot of column inches and conversation, is the US MicroMarket concept. It probably looks very familiar, as it is a translation of the ‘breakout’ concept popular across Europe. What’s clear is that as vending adopts real consumer technologies for communication and payment, the positioning and perception of it becomes retailing; something 24vend has been saying for a long while. Vending is retailing and always has been; I think we’re seeing now that retailing is turning to vending as automation and technology are increasingly adopted for 24 hour operations…
Were I Zoltar, I’d be saying ”watch out for clever retailers moving into our space’. They already know the consumer and whilst I, like many of you, love vending to the point of being a geek, it’s probably not that difficult for them to leap across the Rubicon into our world!
Of course, a word from me would not be the same without a comment on Health and Vending. Healthy, tasty and affordable was definitely on offer around the show and in main street retailers. Not just dried fruit and nuts but interesting and fun. I’m planning to get samples of products for tasting at the Being Healthy Conference on 12th June during AVEX. Sign up today for your seat and be part of the conversation!
It’s a great show; support from the industry is huge and NAMA have recently generated a pot of $5m (that’s a wedge of wonga no matter how you look at it!) for their ‘Positioning for Growth’ campaign supporting government relations and consumer information programs. Whilst we at AVA may not have buckets of cash, we have loads of great initiatives that are equally as valuable. Exhibiting or attending shows like NAMA or AVEX is important; we show our face not just to each other but to our customers and consumers. The future is bright if challenging (I’m an optimist, not a fool!) so whilst I didn’t see you in Las Vegas, I hope to see you ALL in Birmingham, 11th to 13th June, Hall 3 for AVEX!
*Read Gillian’s previous column right here on Planet Vending
