'Smart' Vending Machines Triple Sales

bossanovalithium writes "A vending machine in Japan which recommends drinks to customers based on facial recognition data has tripled sales. JR East Water Business has previously installed two vending machines in JR Shinagawa station and it is believed that the recognition technology is responsible for a vast increase in sales in comparison to traditional machines. The vending machines recommend beverages after physical attributes of customers are picked up by sensors which allow the machines determine age, sex and other attributes, before offering a number of suggestions."

Too early to conclude this...

[Anonymous Coward]

I was in Japan when they rolled these out, and had a chance to drop by and see/use them at the station. It seems the recognition system wasn't working when I was there, which was only a couple days after they were installed. But that aside, what's likely increasing sales at this point is the novelty, and the news coverage. There were consistent lines in front of these things for a few days after they were installed, because they had been featured in the news on a few channels (outside of Tokyo as well). In a country where you can barely go 500 feet before you see another vending machine, having a huge (and quite nice) video display instead of the usual fake bottles/cans stands out, especially because they're in a great spot where almost anyone going to or from the local JR lines will see.

There have been video-based vending machines before, mostly from Coke. But most of the ones I had seen three years ago where gone last year- in my experience they used too many useless transition screens and responded horribly slow, making them fairly painful to use compared to normal machines. The new ones in Shinagawa station are really nice in comparison, and least do as good a job as a good old machine.

Lines tend to be self-maintaining once they form. That initial news coverage seeded the interest initially, and since then has just continued based on bystanders noticing an unusual number of people around a vending machine. A similar reason to why every Krispy Kreme in the country has hour or longer waits on weekends, even months after grand opening.

I don't see there being much of a plan to roll those machines out in many areas outside of the main cities, and even then they're going to be most appropriate in high-traffic areas like stations and airports. I imagine they use more power than a standard machine, so it wouldn't be worth it at all to replace the current machines which line the streets of less dense areas.

Re:Lawsuit city!

[lenawash]

it's not that really impolite to walk around with a bottle of water, especially in summer when it's really hot and humid. it's more like after 9/11, they took out all the trash bins except around vending machines and convinience stores so if you want to throw your empty bottle, you'd better be close to the place you bought it. cause littering IS considered impolite in japan. just like everywhere else.