Entering into the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the continuation of social distancing and lockdown measures, as well as travel restrictions, continued to keep foot traffic in Hong Kong lower than the pre-COVID-19 level. This was because of the absence of tourist flows, and many companies continuing their flexible working from home policy, which led to the reduction of foot traffic across the city.
In 2021, the latest models of smart vending machines were introduced in new locations, such as shopping centres, industrial buildings and club houses of residential housing estates in Hong Kong. Those models allow consumers to choose products through touch screen, and to pay using either cash or digital payment.
The first vending machine that sells packaged raw vegetables was launched in Fanling, a town in the New Territories East of Hong Kong, in April 2021. All vegetables are packaged with nitrogen gas to ensure they stay fresh for better storage.
A fifth wave of COVID-19 started at the beginning of 2022, which has created further uncertainty about the outlook for retailing in Hong Kong, and the potential recovery of the vending channel. Not only did the government decide to stop consumer foodservice venues from offering dine-in after 18:00hrs each day until 4 February 2022, but it also decided to shut down fitness centres, pubs, bars and beauty parlours, aiming to reduce the number of people gathering together.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic led to the decline of vending, it also accelerated the development of smart vending machines, as vending machine operators and manufacturers needed to enhance the functionality of these machines to improve both the resilience and survivability of the vending channel against other retail channels. Companies such as FreshUp and GRITUS offer the latest models of smart vending machines in Hong Kong.
Over the review period, Swire Pacific and Vitasoy International Holdings were the two long-term leading players in vending in Hong Kong, mainly because traditional vending machines are not suitable for brands to store products that have a short shelf life. Therefore, these vending machines were used for ready to drink packaged beverages and packaged snacks.
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Vending
Vending means automatic retailing. It covers the sale of products and services at an unattended point of sale through a machine operated by introducing coins, bank notes, payment cards, tokens or other means of cashless payment. Sales figures cover vended products only, ie food, drink and other consumable goods such as vended tobacco, sanitary products and condoms. Services such as the public telephone, laundrette facilities, travel tickets, stamps, passport photographs, domestic energy supplies and business card creation are excluded. Coverage includes vending systems installed in public and semi-captive environments only. Hotels, transport networks, recreational centres, shopping centres/malls are included. Factories, offices, hospitals, prisons, schools and other captive environments are excluded.
See All of Our DefinitionsThis report originates from Passport, our Vending research and analysis database.
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