Mobile payment prevails and the era of unmannedness is just around the corner!

Recently, some Japanese media said: Itoen, a famous Japanese beverage company, and NEOS, which develops smartphone-related services, have jointly developed vending machines that can be paid by smartphones for Chinese tourists, and are striving to install 100 vending machines by the summer of 2018. As we all know, the vending machine market in Japan is very developed. According to data, there are more than 5.5 million vending machines in Japan, with an average of one for every 23 people, and annual sales of more than 60 billion U.S. dollars. And so far, China's vending machines are still in the initial stage of development. So, can China's vending machine market reach the level of popularity in Japan? We can compare the success factors of Japanese vending machines and the general environment in China to analyze the possibility of the outbreak of the vending machine market in China. First of all, in terms of labor costs. It is believed that due to factors such as the decline in the birth rate and the serious aging of the population, Japan has a labor shortage and high labor costs. Under such circumstances, vending machines that require only a small number of operators to be responsible for regular replenishment and clearing of cash have become a good way to solve manpower problems and have received great attention from Japanese companies. Therefore, vending machines began to develop rapidly in Japan. In contrast, China's population aging problem is becoming more and more serious, and labor costs have also continued to rise. According to a research report issued by the Center for New Structural Economics of Peking University and the British Overseas Development Institute: In the past three years, the average annual wage growth rate has reached 10% to 20%, and labor costs have become the number one faced by most companies. challenge. Therefore, it is believed that 'unmanned retail' such as vending machines will also be the future trend. Second, high population density and expensive real estate. It is believed that Japan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world: As most of its territory is made up of mountainous areas, more than 90% of Japan’s people live in cities. To a certain extent, this has promoted the rise in housing prices. For companies, it means that more money is needed to rent a retail store. Based on this calculation, the vending machine's floor efficiency is much higher than that of the retail store, so it is more popular. China has a vast territory, so the population density is obviously lower than that of Japan. However, the population density is still very high in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. At the same time, in addition to labor costs, China's housing prices are also on the rise, and high rental costs are also huge pressures facing many companies. Under such circumstances, it is believed that the development of vending machines still has great advantages. Finally, cash payment and mobile payment. It is believed that this is the biggest difference between China and Japan: China's mobile payment is developing rapidly, while Japan is more dependent on cash. In Japan, more than half of all consumer behaviors in the entire country are paid in cash; at the same time, many chain stores and even subway stations can only use cash to pay. But in China, mobile payments are prevalent. Especially among young people, the 'cashless society' has been basically realized, and many young people no longer use cash when they go out. Therefore, China's vending machines have advanced to the intelligent stage, such as the IoT Huizu series of smart vending machines, which greatly improves the payment efficiency and enhances the consumer experience of users. In addition, using big data analysis and other functions, the IoT Huizu series of smart vending machines can also provide users with just-needed and high-frequency products through the analysis of user consumption behaviors, shortening the time for users to choose, and then Improve the user's consumption experience to a higher degree. In short, China's overall environment is actually conducive to the development of smart vending machines. The urgent needs of users for'convenience' have also greatly promoted the development of smart vending machines. I believe that in the future, smart vending machines in China will be as popular as Japan.