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'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."
Regardless of your age, sex, or other characteristics, the machines always produce a beverage almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
Yeah, here we call them waitresses, and they can talk too! (and are pleasant to look at)
The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
Offer this person:
The possibilities are endless.
The Japanese get a kick out of profiling and the gimmicky amusement of having a machine tell you that girls like the girly brand of tea isn't a long-term business model.
Do the machines call out? If they do I hope they sound like Bender (but you know, in Japanese):
"Hey fatass, got a nice 200 oz can of fried chicken here!"
"Hey baby! All the supermodels are drinking Diet Water, what's your deal?"
And so forth...
crazy dynamite monkey
I can't wait until a big fatso waddles up to one of these machines in America so I can see what the machine recommends. It either recommends a Diet Coke, because you're fat and need to lose a few (dozen), or it offers you a regular Coke, because it knows you probably drink a LOT of it. Its a lawsuit either way. Either the fatso has their feelings hurt and sues for emotional damage, or some random do-gooder sues for pushing sugary drinks to those who lack the willpower to say "no."
"We've decided for you, so don't spend all that precious mental energy looking at the dozen buttons on the panel." Should work great in the states.
Listen you stupid machine, it tastes filthy! Here, take this cup back!
Ceci n'est pas une
What my mohawk and facial hair would cause the system to suggest to me. Monster? Mountain Dew? Get a job and stop loitering?
I'm willing to bet it wouldn't offer me what I really want, which is an iced tea.
How does it feel to be a liar with pants constantly on fire?
I'd be satisfied just with a vending machine that (a) was stocked with what I want, and (b) didn't steal my money when I tried to buy it.
I just read about this in Grape Soda Monthly...
Somehow I don't think having Mr. Vending Machine tell all of us fat people here in the U.S. that we should maybe get a diet drink is really going to fly. I am therefore dubious of the cultural portability of this concept.
"Hey fatass, got a nice 200 oz can of fried chicken here!"
Fried chicken comes in a can now? Sweet! Now I can eat a KFC Doubledown and wash it down with even more fried chicken!
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
But the new technology offers some frightening prospects. With machines telling us what to drink how long until we are told what to eat and what to wear? The idea of a 1984-style Big Brother state fronted by the double-headed hydra that is a computerised Trinny and Susanna is almost too scary.
Even for a joke, seriously, what? How is personalised advertisement anything close to what you just said?
--
I imagine most people are trying these now for the novelty of it all. That might be the whole point, but if I normally didn't use vending machines then this probably wouldn't make me use it more than once or twice to see what it does. If I were the owner, I'd set it to recommend more expensive drinks.
yo dawg, we heard you like chicken...
..and you could see a vending machine which would only sell coke light/diet/zero to anyone with a BMI over 30. After all, a company that can create a machine which can sell me calorie-laden drinks and determine my vital statistics, can surely be sued when I develop diabetes and suffer a heart attack 10 years later?
Or maybe in 10 years time individuals will be expected to take responsibility for their own actions?
AHA! No wonder I couldn't find that last Quantum Cola to complete the collection. Have to go to Japan for it. The machine knows what you need.
std::disclaimer<std::legalese> sig=new std::disclaimer; sig->dump(); delete sig;
a Cosmopolitan, and promptly receives a roundhouse kick to the CPU...
They say the same about us!
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
http://www.brandsworld.us/en/products/ec.php
I've had it, it's not... well... it is what it is.
Better than the Bird's Nest Soup, at least.
The sad thing is that my ex-girlfriend looked at my face and made the same recommendation. The sadder thing is that she was a machine too.
Sigh.
If we in the U.S. would more fully adopt the dollar coin, and also a $2 coin like the Toonie, even we could have such nice things. Until then, we'll have to keep digging out pocketfuls of quarters and trying our luck with the bill acceptor.
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
It doesn't tell Chuck Norris what to drink. Chuck Norris tells it what to drink...
Seriously though, I wonder if the triple sales is simply novelty. People are using it just to see what it will suggest... that sort of thing. After the novelty wears off, will sales return to normal?
It keeps recommending used school girl panties. Stupid Japanese vending machine!
They say the same about us!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbxw3ukUTH8
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I don't get it.
You have this big machine with a matrix of choices. Either it has what you want or not. How does a "song and dance" number help sales exactly?
Do the Japanese need to be told that they are thirsty or some such?
Perhaps the vending machine is producing a stamped document of some sort... '-p
It's not like you are exactly starting with American style coke machines to begin with.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
More than likely, OmniBot 6000 recommends the most expensive item currently in inventory, and tells you the selection is based on a "complex algorithm involving facial analysis."
If I ever go to Japan I am *soooooo* wearing a clown mask up to one of these machines.
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.
We're not that far from fried chicken in a can.
The first time a black person uses the machine and gets offered a Pepsi, Al Sharpton will organize a boycott against automated racial profiling.
They say the same about us!
Well, I realized that I was a bigot when I was watching Battlestar Galactica. I couldn't tell the difference between the Asian actresses who played Boomer, Athena, and the various Number 8s.
So much for not being racist!
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
If they bring this kind of machine in other countries, I hope they update the thing so that it says "Share and enjoy!" after each sale.
Nah, that's just how Chuck Norris pays for all his drinks.
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.
What if there are multiple people in the photo? For example, if two girls are standing in front of the machine, does it offer them one cup?
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
And maybe the increased sales is the effect of the WOW factor or even simple curiosity for new things...
Just like the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation's Nutrimatic Drinks Dispenser from Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Technology_in_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Nutrimatic_Drinks_Dispenser.
It'll be even more embarrasing when the machine puts you in the "used girl's panties" demographic.
They have nice vending machines over there... In a little alley near my hotel they had one that sold a selection of *bottles* of whisky. Funny how that would never work ovr here because
1) Politicians would go apeshit... encouragingpeopleotdrinkwecanthavethatohnoes.
2) After sundown the machine would last less than 5 minutes before someone would smash the glass and steal the whisky.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Grape soda and a banana?
Next time I'm in Japan, I'm surely gonna check what it suggests to a gaijin like me. Is it programmed to offer us the diet coke poison or some exotic Japanese drink like Pocari Sweat?
Have a can of strychnine, you horribly ugly troll!!
This will wear off eventually.
You can't use a tech gimmick in the vending machine to make the market permanently want to buy three times the number of drinks.
How much of that figure is the consequence of lost sales in the other vending machines? I.e. people who normally would go to any machine are drawn to the new, shiny one that recognizes their face and recommends drinks?
If you own both the new and old type of vending machine, reshuffling sales among them doesn't help you.
If you could replace every single machine with this one, and as a consequence permanently triple sales for all vending machines all across the board, that would be something!
"Your Recommendation: There's a drinking fountain right behind you. It's infinitely better for you than any of the crap in this machine, and it's free. Have a nice day."
"Don't blame the log for the fire." --Andrew Ratshin
Not necessarily the most expensive, but a combination of highest profit margin and highest inventory.
Once there's only one bottle of Led Bru left, there's no point in pushing it on customers.
We're not that far from fried chicken in a can.
Pft. Double Down is for wusses! Wait for their new Triple Down, soon to be superceded by their new Mach 5 Down xTreme! (Brought to you by a partnership between KFC and Gillette).
Obviously, the lurking variable that the people in Japan MAY just be drawn to a vending machine that talks to them and is technologically advanced could not have possibly been a cause of the pickup in sales....
the only way to prove it's suggestion ability is what draws the people would be to put in a machine that suggests based upon random selection, that is identical to the others.
...when the SO sends you out to buy pads. Now you have to stand in front of the machine and make yourself look like a girl until it offers them to you. Thanks a lot, Japan!
At first I was trying to figure out your point about panties of used girl's, but once you started talking about politicians, it all made sense!
lets buy some to see if it works
Mod Parent INTERESTING!
"Novelty triples sales" Maybe there is nothing great, or even accurate about the suggestions the machine makes. Maybe its much less "this machine showed me a coke and I like coke, and I happen to be in a demographic that lik", and a bit more "this machine has more shiny lights. I will give it money because I am a brainless sheep consumer."
I wonder if it will recommend Wild Turkey or Gentleman's Jack based on my face recognition.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
What will the sales be when the amusement/curiosity wares of??
Jack of all trades,master of none
First thing this story reminded me of was the vending machines in Macross: they actually follow you around trying to get you to buy things...
Bow-ties are cool.
Dante Hicks is just like you. He looooves grape soda.
And despite his low rank, he's actually quite a competent soldier. He'll make a great de-facto leader for the drop team when the sarge buys it and the lieutenant turns out to be an incompetent douche.
Bow-ties are cool.
Do the machines call out? If they do I hope they sound like Bender (but you know, in Japanese):
"Hey fatass, got a nice 200 oz can of fried chicken here!"
"Hey baby! All the supermodels are drinking Diet Water, what's your deal?"
And so forth...
This was funny but being +4 insightful made me lol in front of my boss. He wants to try the Bender vending machine now.
"This product is so meaty, there's no room for a bun!"
1) They say that like it's a good thing.
2) No pretence, they use the word "product" for the meal.
3) I'm glad I ate already. That thing looks disgusting.
4) If I'd seen that picture on a blog I'd have assumed it was a joke.
...with RFC 2324?
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2324
5) All of the above.
country represents . . . you!
I want a Coke. I step up to the machine. It better suggest a Coca-Cola. Otherwise FAIL. I select and pay for Coke. Why do I need this again?
This is a close second to the machine that dispenses live crabs. (The sea floor living kind of crab.)
Future vending machines might detect that I am a somewhat overweight, mid-50s male, wearing loose over sized pants, with athletically muscular arms and shoulders. That should tell it that I have lost some weight and work out regularly, but that I have not quite yet reached my weight loss goals. That should suggest that I would prefer something healthy and low calorie. The obvious choices would be green tea, a mixture of green and black tea, black coffee, vegetable juice, or bottled water.
The vending machine might also detect that my glowing good skin color is due to all the fruits and vegetables that I eat. That would tell it to include vegetable juice or a vegetable / fruit juice combination, as an option. Noticing that I am in my mid-50s, the machine might suspect that I am watching my salt intake and would not add any salt.
It might also detect the looseness in my pants, which are only being held up by a belt which has been tightened down to the last remaining hole. That should tell it that I have lost a significant amount of weight and that I would not even consider buying an ordinary soft drink or anything sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. If it were to offer me some food, in addition to a beverage, an apple or a mango would be a much better choice than some type of junk food.
The slightest hint of jowls along my jawline and on my throat, should tell the machine that I am in my mid-50s. The lack of wrinkles around my lips would tell the machine that I am not a smoker. Examining my skin, it might realize that I have always used sunscreen and/or worn a broad rimed hat, or possibly just stayed inside. All of the above, should strongly suggest that I am an exceptionally heath conscious person.
Seeing what a health conscious person I am, the only obvious beverage choices would be tea, black coffee, vegetable juice, or bottled water.
So it seems because this machine isn't too "smart" it is ok for it to be prejudiced, that is, pre-judging you based on your appearance.
Is there a point where machines aren't allowed to be prejudiced?
I, for one, welcome our new vending machine overlords
Incorrect. If you're going that route, at least recommend the item with the highest profit margin, preferably matched up with expected sales related to the price. This will not necessarily always be the highest-priced item - bottled water is going to be a lot easier and cheaper to produce than, say, coke.
What a depressingly stupid machine.
While not in a can, how about live crab?
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/10/21/live-crab-vending-ma.html
comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
iirc, the alcohol vending machines are built so that at a certain time of day they deploy steel bars to stop someone from just breaking and grabbing.
comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
Grace Park is hot, 'nough said :)
This is the sig that says NI (again)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2hwnGrn3go (Especially interesting if you enable Closed Captioning and use the "translate captions" beta feature)
Am I the only one pessimistic enough to think that the only reason this machine tripled sales is because of its gimmick? Considering that the machine offers you a drink based on your appearance, can we really ignore the novelty of that?
If it sees an attractive girl, does it suggest a drink with higher alcohol content? Gotta watch out for those machines!