Unmanned stores are immature, vending machines are rising rapidly

Since 2017, the unmanned retail wave started by e-commerce giants such as Amazon and Alibaba has taken the world by storm. Suddenly, 'unmanned store' has almost become synonymous with unmanned retail. However, it is not yet known which operating model will occupy the mainstream of the unmanned retail industry in the future. However, the dominance of unmanned stores will probably not emerge, because an inconspicuous but already very common offline retail tool is rapidly emerging with the help of intelligent manufacturing technology and becoming a strong competitor of unmanned stores. This is automatic sales. Cargo aircraft. What are the advantages of vending machines against unmanned stores? As we all know, the landing of unmanned stores relies heavily on the Internet of Things technology, and the speed of vending machines 'coming into the network' is no slower than unmanned stores. In July 2016, Pepsi-Cola announced that it would launch a vending machine 'Hello Goodness' to exclusively sell various foods produced by the company. Compared with selling your own products in stores or supermarkets with other brands and other types of products, this kind of vending machine that sells your own products can more timely, accurately and collectively reflect consumers’ likes and dislikes of the company’s different products. Demand and other information, so that merchants can adjust production and distribution accordingly. The realization method is to connect each machine to the cloud network to collect and analyze the data generated by the vending machine in real time. This is of great help to improve the consumer shopping experience and increase the profits of the enterprise, and it is difficult for unmanned stores to do this to such an extent. In terms of personalized service, the vending machine is far more than just on-demand distribution. It can also integrate part of the food processing functions and become a mini fast food restaurant. Not long ago, the 'unmanned mobile noodle restaurant' that appeared in Shanghai in 45 seconds and the automatic tea vending machine independently developed by domestic makers that can make 3 kinds of tea are only for one product and integrate processing and sales. Featured vending machines. Another advantage of vending machines is that they are lower in cost and take up less space, so they are easier to popularize. Compared to building an unmanned store, the cost of arranging a vending machine is obviously much less. In addition to its small size, it will undoubtedly win easily in terms of quantity. No matter how convenient the payment is, the unmanned store is 'people come to the store' after all, and the vending machine can fully realize the 'store to find people' because of the convenience of mobile, and it can be arranged in various corners closer to people, anytime, anywhere. Provide convenience for consumers. In short, vending machines that use a variety of emerging technologies such as biometrics, machine vision, and mobile payment will not only make manufacturers feel happy, but also make consumers feel attentive, and are expected to take away a lot of business from unmanned stores. There are still a few hurdles on the road to the rise of vending machines. Robots are competing for jobs with workers in the workshop. Autonomous driving may compete with drivers on the road in the future, and unmanned retail will also allow many operators of small shops and grocery stores. We felt threatened. In September 2017, the AI u200bu200bvending machine launched by American startup Bodega caused a lot of controversy on Twitter. This vending machine can set up a distribution plan according to the different needs of different community groups, and the payment is completed with a mobile phone APP, no cash is required, and it is very convenient, so it is welcomed by some consumers. At the same time, there are many people who oppose the promotion of this device, because a large number of grassroots people who make a living by operating a grocery store are likely to lose their financial resources. As far as the vending machine itself is concerned, although its service is very convenient and considerate, behind this small cube requires a powerful warehousing and logistics system to support it. How to distribute goods accurately, timely and adequately, how to quickly replace deteriorated and expired goods, etc., these problems have not been well resolved, and more related technology development and application are needed. In addition, the current vending machines have common security problems like most IoT terminal devices. The protection design is not done well, and it is easy to become the target of hacker attacks. In February 2017, the network system of a university in the United States suffered a DDoS attack. After investigation, it was discovered that the attack originated from more than 5,000 IoT devices on campus, including vending machines. Because the password is too simple or has not been changed at all, these devices are easily implanted by hackers with malicious software and then controlled and become tools for their destruction. Unmanned stores and vending machines have their own strengths and will not replace each other. In the future, the mainstream model of unmanned retail is more likely to be two-peak. People can not only scan goods in large quantities in large unmanned stores, but also can replenish their daily needs at any time at their doorsteps. However, to make these scenes a reality, we still need to deal with the social and technical issues in front of us. The above information is provided by the vending machine. Please mark the reprint. Previous post: Sake vending machine debuted at Sendai Station, very popular among tourists