MoreGrocery stores, especially smaller ones, have a potential advantage over machines, in that employees can make recommendations to customers. However, vending machines may be taking on that task, as well. In 2010, the JR East Water Business Company installed Japan’s first face-recognition beverage vending machines. Equipped with 47-inch, touch-panel screens and embedded sensors to help determine characteristics of approaching customers (e.g., age, sex), the machines recommend drinks to the customers based on time of day, temperature and the demographic group into which the customer falls.
According to a Reuters report (http://tinyurl.com/3lr65qr), a company spokesperson said, “If the customer is a man, the machine is likely to recommend a canned coffee drink, since men tend to prefer these. If the customer is in their 50s, though, that recommendation is likely to be green tea.” A woman in her 20s will be recommended a tea drink or slightly sweeter product.
The GAIN report also noted Japan has always been a health-conscious consumer market. Will there be a day when such machines also scan for obesity and recommend low-calorie offerings? pf
Claudia Dziuk O'Donnell is Chief Editor and Associate Publisher of Prepared Foods magazine including its NutraSolutions and Culinary sections. Her responsibilities include determining the editorial content of the print publication and the New Products Conference.
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