In today's fast-paced life, both vending machines and convenience stores are providing people with convenient shopping services. However, vending machines have demonstrated many advantages compared to convenience stores due to their unique features. The following is a detailed analysis:
1、 Flexibility in Space and Site Selection
Small footprint
The size of vending machines is relatively small, and the space they occupy is very limited, unlike convenience stores that require a larger storefront area to display goods, set up cash registers, and leave room for customer activities. This allows vending machines to be placed in various limited space locations, such as corners of office floors, corridors of school buildings, and corridors of hospital wards. As long as there is a small piece of open space or even a location against the wall, they can be placed, maximizing the use of fragmented space and being closer to potential consumers, making it convenient for them to purchase goods at any time.
Diversity of Site Selection
Its location selection has extremely high flexibility and can be spread to almost every corner of the city. In addition to indoor places mentioned above, it can also be placed in outdoor parks, bus stops, subway stations, tourist attractions and other places with high traffic but not suitable for opening convenience stores. Convenience stores are often limited by factors such as rental costs, foot traffic, and surrounding facilities, and are relatively more selective in their location selection, making it difficult for them to penetrate into various segmented high traffic scenarios like vending machines.
2、 In terms of operating costs
Low labor cost
The operation of vending machines basically does not require dedicated personnel to be on duty, and daily replenishment, payment collection and other work can be arranged for personnel to complete on a regular basis, greatly saving manpower expenses. In contrast, convenience stores require the employment of multiple staff positions such as cashiers, tally clerks, and store managers to carry out cash register, product sorting, inventory counting, and store management work around the clock, with labor costs accounting for a relatively large proportion of overall operating costs. Especially during low traffic periods such as nighttime, convenience stores still need to arrange personnel on duty, while vending machines can continue to operate normally without incurring additional labor costs.
Rental cost advantage
Due to the small footprint of vending machines and relatively lower requirements for space, they often have an advantage in terms of rent. Convenience stores usually have to pay high monthly rent in order to obtain a better geographical location and sufficient business area. In some core commercial districts of cities, rent is a significant expense. However, vending machines may only need to pay a small amount of venue occupancy fees or reach cooperation sharing agreements with venue providers to settle in some high-quality locations. From a cost perspective, this makes vending machines more competitive in product pricing or can obtain higher profit margins at the same price.
3、 Time convenience
24-hour non-stop operation
Vending machines can provide uninterrupted service to customers 24 hours a day. Whether customers want to buy snacks to replenish energy after working late at night or need to buy drinks early in the morning, they can complete shopping at the vending machine at any time. Although there are also many convenience stores that operate 24 hours a day, due to factors such as employee scheduling and operating costs, not all convenience stores can guarantee that they are open 24/7. As long as the vending machines are running normally and the goods are sufficient, they can meet customers' immediate purchasing needs at any time.
4、 Hygiene and Safety
Less contact, more hygienic
In the current situation where people attach increasing importance to public health, vending machines have unique advantages. When customers purchase goods, they only need to operate the screen or select the corresponding payment or pickup method, without having to deal with numerous frequently picked up items by different people like in convenience stores, which also reduces the opportunity for close contact with others and is relatively more hygienic. Moreover, many vending machines now have the function of regular automatic cleaning and disinfection, further ensuring the cleanliness of the shopping environment.
Good security
Vending machines are usually enclosed structures placed in relatively fixed positions, making them easier to manage and monitor compared to convenience stores. The internal products of convenience stores have certain anti-theft measures, which are not easily stolen at will. However, due to the large size of the store, multiple entrances and exits, and open display of goods, although there are security measures such as surveillance, they face greater challenges in anti-theft and require more effort and cost to ensure the safety of goods.
5、 Product targeting and data-driven approach
Accurate selection of products
Vending machines can accurately select products suitable for specific groups of people based on their placement locations. For example, vending machines placed in gyms can focus on providing fitness related products such as sports drinks and protein bars; Prepare more snacks, stationery, and other items that students love on campus. Through this precise positioning, we can better meet the needs of our target customer group and improve the sales efficiency of our products. Although convenience stores also consider the surrounding population, due to the relatively wide variety of products, it is difficult to achieve precise matching of a certain group of people like vending machines, as they need to cater to the various needs of different customers.
Accurate data analysis
With the help of intelligent operation systems, vending machines can collect and analyze a large amount of data about product sales, such as sales volume of different products in different time periods. Through this data, operational strategies such as product types and replenishment frequency can be adjusted in a timely manner. Although convenience stores also conduct data statistics, due to the more complex operational process involving a wide range of product categories, it is relatively more difficult to achieve precise optimization of product structure based on data like vending machines.
In summary, vending machines and convenience stores each have their own characteristics, and vending machines have demonstrated unique advantages in space utilization, operating costs, time convenience, hygiene and safety, and precise product operation, playing an important role in meeting people's real-time and fragmented shopping needs.
