KUALA LUMPUR: The demand for a contactless purchasing experience has grown significantly in recent years, and more retailers and brands are entering the business segment through vending machines, a trend that is commonly observed in Japan.
Atlas Vending (M) Sdn Bhd head of marketing and ancillary business Amy Gan said the pandemic had expedited consumers' adoption of vending machines to reduce contact and the company believe the trend will continue because of the benefits and convenience the technology brings.
"To date, we have worked with several partners such as SC Johnson, Pepsi, Tropicana, and FWD Takaful.
"As we have not worked on many partnerships in the past, having these successful collaborations is already an achievement and milestone for us.
"For the record, Atlas Vending has not had any similar brand partnerships in the past, hence technically, it is a 100 per cent increase," she told The New Straits Times.
On March 1 this year, Atlas Vending collaborated with OKU Sentral to roll out
Malaysia's first series of accessible vending machines, with KPJ Healthcare Bhd as an exclusive hospital partner for the launch.
The accessible vending machines are custom fit with features such as wheelchair and height accessibility and a larger coin tray for those with limited motor control and are equipped with electronic payment features.
Through the collaboration, Atlas accessible machines are now available at selected KPJ hospitals, Pusat Daya Klang and Pusat Latihan Perindustrian dan Pemulihan Bangi.
"We launched the first-ever Braille-enabled vending machine for the visually impaired community, enabling them to access vending machines serving refreshments in public spaces and improving their purchase experience.
"We also launched the Atlas Sapot SME programme in conjunction with Malaysia Day last year, partnering with 13 small and medium enterprises (SME) from the 13 states of Malaysia, to reach out to a wider group of consumers using vending machines as their additional sales channel," Amy said.
She said the Atlas TryBot uses vending machines to dispense free samples to consumers to reduce human interaction during the pandemic and use technology to enable the machines to collect consumer data for retargeting, allowing better control of the free stock, amongst other advantages.
"Since the launch of the Atlas Sapot SME programme, we saw huge spikes in enquiries from businesses on using vending machines to expand their footprint, as covering more geographical areas using vending machines is a lot more agile and cost-efficient compared to brick and mortar stores.
"There were also enquiries from online businesses that only adopt vending machines for their offline presence and encourage trials.
"Apart from that, there was a good response from brands on taking up the wrap on vending machines, which is a good avenue for branding at the point of purchase," Amy said.
Atlas Vending chief executive officer Santharuban Thurai Sundaram said in the near to mid-term, the company will continue to focus on championing convenience, allowing consumers to get what they want within the closest proximity.
"Secondly, adopting technology to enhance the consumer experience, including contactless and cashless payment, devices that can identify consumers and hence come up with purchase suggestions or relevant promotions based on the buying habits and behaviour of the consumers.
"Last but not least, as the largest vending machine operator across Malaysia and Singapore, we will continue to drive our footprint to serve more consumers," he said.
Santharuban said just like every consumer-centric business, and Atlas Vending is directly influenced by changing consumer needs and market development.
The TryBot is one clear example of that, he said.