EXPERIENCE

Not Your Break Room Snack Machine

Twitter recently served me a delightful retail newsbite for once: the opening of the first yarn vending machine.

We don’t see this often. While vending machines outside the U.S. have long stocked apparel and crafting items, 72% of U.S. vending machines are still dedicated to pantry snacks, per IbisWorld data. Of those that aren’t...

• Uniqlo opened a handful of vending machines for its best-selling items in 2017. 
• Benefit Cosmetics began operating beauty vending machines in 2013.

Change is coming. Vending sales this year are projected to decline without office snack breaks. But vending providers are adjusting to 1) embrace non-edible products and 2) adopt contactless payments.

“Now that consumers prioritize health and safety just as much–if not more–than they do convenience, vending machines are becoming more and more attractive,” Luke Saunders, founder at meal vending service Farmer’s Fridge, told Retail Brew. Tech advancements are sweetening the deal:

• Vengo Labs, a firm creating next-gen vending solutions, has developed vending machines that allow mobile ordering.
• PopCom, an automated retail provider, integrates brands’ e-comm inventory with its vending options—so shoppers can make immediate purchases and home delivery orders at once.

Convenience ≠ skimpy service. “Vending machines provide an opportunity to create a brand experience without staff or a large retail footprint,” said Harvey Hodd, CEO of Blueprint, a conversational commerce platform.

• “Beauty [and] self-care brands could create an experience where customers could have a conversation with an expert on the screen to get advice on which products best fit your skin type.”
• “Home essentials brands could place machines at critical points where their consumers are most in-need and can't wait 48 hours for delivery.”

IRL application: Buff City Soap is developing soap-stocked vending machines to roll out in 2021, e-comm director Sanjay Jenkins told me. The format isn’t finalized yet, but Jenkins shared some hints: “In front of a store, a vending machine that shows [...] soap being made coupled with a lead generation system that delivers a free sample bar might be the best activation.”

Going full vend 

Building interactive vending solutions is so much more than making sure items don’t get stuck in the retrieval flap. Retailers need to consider...

Location. Vending machines perform best in “spaces that are conducive to an impulse purchase” according to Saunders. 

• That used to be near an office or a gym—now, it could be outside a larger retailer or in front of a closed storefront. 
• Location also determines display, Jenkins said. Storefront vending machines may have more elaborate, interactive displays, while travel hubs stick to basics. 

Inventory. Every vending expert I spoke with agreed that vending favors frequently replenished items: think beauty, health supplies, or in a 2020 twist, PPE. 

Bottom line: Vending retail has product constraints, but it can also inject some surprise and delight into an expedited experience. Just watch.

GROCERY

Free Vaccine, With or Without Purchase

Once a Covid-19 vaccine is approved, major pharmacies and grocers will provide free vaccinations through a new partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

• About 60% of all pharmacies in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands will distribute vaccines, spanning national chains (Walgreens, CVS, Costco) and regional pharmacies.
• HHS officials say most Americans live within five miles of a pharmacy, making it the most convenient avenue for distribution.

This news should hit retail like a gallon of CBD oil. Health experts consider an approved vaccine necessary to 1) stop the spread of Covid-19 and 2) fully resume Before Times retail operations like indoor dining and laps around the mall.

Until everyone’s covered...retailers are revisiting stricter safety measures as daily U.S. Covid-19 cases break records. Walmart is reinstituting strict store capacity counts; McDonald’s is conducting nationwide franchisee safety checks. 

SPONSORED BY MAGENTO

Give Customers Something to Remember

In order to keep customers coming back, you need a little pizzazz. A little razzle dazzle. In other words, if you want to create memorable experiences for your customers, you need the expertise of Magento Commerce. 

Adobe’s Magento Commerce has been helping businesses create successful, scalable solutions that keep customers coming back for more. And now they’ve been recognized as a leader in the 2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce report.

Magento Commerce has a global partner ecosystem and extensions marketplace. And you can read all about why it works so well in Gartner’s very influential report. 

Learn from Adobe’s expertise, and start leveraging your digital commerce to create memorable experiences and get meaningful results. 

Download Gartner’s full report and learn more about Adobe (Magento) today. 

SUSTAINABILITY

Shopify Clears the Air

This Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) will summon millions of order confirmation emails...and a spike in carbon emissions, the BBC reports. 

Time to clean up. Shopify said Friday it will offset all carbon emissions from orders placed over the shopping weekend. 

• Shopify’s offsets will back carbon-reducing tech and nature-based solutions like regenerative farming.

While holiday shopping has shifted forward this year, Shopify expects orders will peak on BFCM weekend. It also estimates that shipping one package emits one kg of carbon. That adds up when 25.5 million people shop at the same time. 

Zoom out: So far, only the Priuses of apparel have made environmental moves for BFCM. 

• Allbirds is raising prices by $1 this year and donating the proceeds to a climate action org.
• In 2016, Patagonia donated the proceeds of Black Friday sales to grassroots environmental agencies. 

My takeaway: Shopify powers 1+ million storefronts, and not all of them are known for their Kermit-green supply chains. So its BFCM campaign could encourage other online retailers to clean up their policies. 

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Taubman Centers lowered the price for its acquisition by Simon Property Group.
• Home Depot will acquire HD Supply for $9.1 billion.
• Harry’s struck up a wholesale deal with Costco.
• Guitar Center reached a restructuring deal...but it’s still filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• Target is phasing out its subscription service.

HOT TOPIC

At the mall, it’s where I once bought an Edward Cullen cardboard cut-out. In Retail Brew, it’s where I outline a trending conversation and ask you to weigh in.

It's been a good week for The Queen’s Gambit reviews, but Instagram Shop hasn't been so critically acclaimed.

The overview: Shop’s icon is replacing the user notification center—allowing users to start shopping as soon as they enter the app. 

• There’s pressure for IG to compete with other social media platforms-turned-shopping centers: Social commerce spending in the U.S. increased 84% in Q3, per Salesforce.

Enter: backlash. Power users complained that the front-and-center shopping tab makes it harder for users to view and engage with photos from friends and family. The majority of responses were too profane to include here.

Are you for or against Instagram’s renovation into a mobile mall? Vote here. 

SWAPPING SKUS

For retail and fast food brands that want to win the Internet, a blue check mark is barely the start. Meet the people behind retail’s latest online branding efforts. (1/) 

• Your employer may not have a chief meme architect now, but it may need one in the near future. (The Goods)
• Some retailers think their most powerful influencers are their own employees—so they’re sending their workers to TikTok to spread the brand gospel. (Modern Retail) 

ICYMI

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• The Verticale Only Stocks Brands with Proven Values
• Ulta and Target: a Shop-in-Shop Love Story
• Burberry Is Cutting Discounts—Again