The Vending Machine Business May Be A Good Opportunity, Vending Machines In Singapore Sell Salmon And Crab

Photo illustrations (Mihai Lazar / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The shopping center in Kovan, Singapore may not be the right place to shop for salmon or Wagyu beef. But here's where we can get it. In an unusual way, salmon and beef are sold through vending machines.

Vending machines are trending in Singapore. Not common anymore. Automatic bread vending machines were first introduced in 2014.

Not only Wagyu and salmon. The machines also provide bread, pastels, pizza and freshly squeezed orange juice, to a local favorite that costs around S $ 60: cooked chili crab.

Even so, drinks and light snacks still dominate, with a growing diversity. A company has set up a chain of cafes serving warm local dishes from machines.

There is also a convenience store selling everything from plaster to machine-baked beans. A local retail company has book vending machines, while another company sells cacti.

Market research firm Euromonitor has recorded that vending machine revenue in Singapore has grown by around 15 percent, from 91 million Singapore dollars (Rp965 billion) in 2014 to 104.5 million Singapore dollars (Rp1.1 trillion) in 2019.

Why Singapore?

2020 is predicted to be a bad year due to the pandemic. However, revenue growth is expected to continue this year.

As quoted by the BBC, Sunday, February 21, Norwegian Salmon managing director Manish Kumar said vending machines were an important niche of business. It has a special space in the business ecosystem.

Mervin Tham, one of the founders of EasyMeat, a company that sells wagyu meat, believes that the variety of products sold by vending machines is growing because there are almost no obstacles in business.

"It's an easy way to test a product, especially if you're starting your own business. And there's generally an interest in the auto retail culture you see overseas, like in Japan," he said.

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