The vending machines are alive

By: Chris Mercer - 17 November 2010 15:14

Vending machines that recommend drinks to consumers have been launched in Japan.

The machines, funnily enough, have been produced by the East Japan Railway Company. According to reports out of Japan, they use facial recognition to recommend canned drinks to consumers based on factors such as age and gender.

I'm not sure that I would enjoy listening to a vending machine pigeonhole my consumer preferences in this fashion, but perhaps I am in a minority. For, if reports are correct, the machines have achieved a three-fold increase in drinks sales versus their non-talking, non-dancing ancestors.

Comments on this blog post

Enough vending machines in Japan are already doing too much chatting. Just passing anywhere near them we get hellos, welcome and thank you. Put in money and bells ring. Machines remind you to pick up your change. Songs played as you leave the machine area. I can see why young Japanese value silence so much.

However, Japanese are mad about new things, so the novelty of a vending machine recommending your drink is like a mixologist recommending a drink at a high end cocktail bar. What will vending machines do next? Have a robot in a maid costume open the container for the customer? Provide a mini-table for beer and Chu-hai drinkers de-stressing on the way home?

Sandra Shoji said at 1:01 am, November 19, 2010