Vending Machines in Canada
Vending Machines in Canada - Market Research
Source Signifi Solutions Inc.
Vending Machines in Canada: A new Canadian study has found that investment in self-service technologies is ‘exploding’ in Canada, where businesses seek proper distancing for people, contactless transactions and a simple and intuitive user experience for employees and customers during the pandemic.
Half of respondents said their company had actually increased their investment in vending machine technology before the pandemic, with three in 10 saying their level of investment had increased by more than 15% since 2019.
Both research sponsors are heavily involved in the self-service sector. SCI Groupe is a Canadian provider of end-to-end supply chain solutions for self-service technologies. It specializes in ATM installations and point-of-sale terminal repairs, among other services. Signifi Solutions provides smart vending machines, self-service kiosks and automated retail solutions globally.
As part of their research, SCI Groupe and Signifi commissioned a survey from Angus Reid to explore actual and planned investments in vending machine technology among Canadian organizations, across multiple industries, to identify key trends. It uncovered three important ideas:
- The pandemic propelled investments in vending machines in the short term;
- The focus on digital transformation will continue to drive long-term investment; And
- User satisfaction is the main motivating factor for investing in vending machines, which include self-service payment terminals, interactive cards, vending machines and employee check-in devices.
Short term investment
The pandemic has clearly driven investments in self-service technology. Of those who say their investment has increased over the past 12 months, 61% identified the COVID-19 pandemic as a strong or moderate factor in their decision. For the healthcare industry, the primary application of kiosk technologies was for check-in purposes to help improve customer wait times.
“The pandemic has driven more people to use vending machines, which has increased their comfort level with technology and is leading to even better, user-centric design for the next generation of devices,” said Peter. Collier, Vice President of SCI Group Technology. “We expect that improved user convenience with kiosks and continued design improvements by kiosk manufacturers will continue to drive adoption. »
Digital transformation drives long-term investment
While the pandemic has played a key role in increasing interest and investment in the self-service space, there are no signs of this growth slowing down. Nearly half of Canadian businesses are already deploying self-service technologies, and another third plan to deploy vending machines or some form of self-service technology within the next 12 months.
Canadian businesses are including kiosk technology as part of their digital transformation strategies, with 77% of organizations saying that vending machine technology will be important to their business over the next five years.
“There is a new appetite for automation and vending technology, part of which can be attributed to the shift in user habits that has arisen from the pandemic,” said Signifi Vice President of Marketing Jamie. McDowell. “More and more Canadian consumers and employees seem to appreciate the simplicity and interactivity offered by kiosk technologies. Organizations are seeing this change and including vending machine technology in their digital transformation plans.
User experience fuels investment
According to the study, the main business drivers for investing in vending machines are about people, at least in the short term. The study found that the top motivation for businesses when investing in self-service technologies is customer and employee satisfaction, with 63% of businesses identifying it as one of the top drivers. This was particularly noticed in the retail sector, where 90% of respondents said that one of the main benefits they seek from kiosks/self-technology is better customer flow.
You want more information on this study, in English, consult this source .