Majorlink

For decades, vending machine has been deployed inside convenience stores or in the high street. In the past, people used to associate vending machine as a proprietary terminal that simply sells soft drinks or candies. With the advent of technologies and widespread acceptance of automated services, vending machine is no longer something of the past. An evolution is taking place in the vending business that promises opportunities to support cashless payment, facilitate stock replenishment and prompt for other value-added services like remote management and vending advertising.

New generation vending terminals are designed to support e-payment and e-fulfillment and some new initiatives can even allow dispensing of "print-on-demand" products or distribution of digital goods like music or video download. Remote management using mobile connectivity plays an appealing role to link up scattered vending machines into the central server so that transaction data and stock refill status can be automatically uploaded. While vending advertising is also an innovative idea as a reverse approach to generate revenue through advertising with free vending offers. That is, customers pay nothing to get a free drink or free print but they are ¡§captive¡¨ to watch a video ad during the waiting time before the goods are released.