Software giant SAP is developing a smart vending machine solution that will provide consumers with the ability to make payments via NFC and link purchases made with social profiles, enabling owners to gain insight into consumer preferences and manage their machines more efficiently.

The solution will allow consumers to tap their NFC phone against a vending machine housing NFC and infrared readers and a touchscreen display. This will allow their profile and account information to be pulled from the cloud, enabling a payment to be charged to a pre-selected account and consumers to be offered a personalised experience.

“Users are encouraged to create a profile and link it to their social accounts and friends,” Andrew Shriner, SAP’s director of technology and innovation marketing, told NFC World. “In turn, we will be able to understand things about a consumer’s lifestyle, purchasing behaviour and who their friends are, so it really opens up more consumer engagement possibilities.”

“We can really personalise the whole experience; the machine can know who you are and what you like,” Kijoon Lee, vice president of technology and innovation marketing at SAP added.

“Companies can also get real-time data on what’s selling and what’s not selling, and it allows feedback from consumers as well — they can tell manufacturers what they would like to see in the machine.

“Therefore, companies can get real-time access to data from machines, predict the optimal assortment for each machine based on analysis of big data, and know when to replenish the machine when stock is low, instead of just sending a truck out once a week like some do today.”

“We are now co-innovating with partners and customers globally on the smart vending solution,” Shriner concluded.

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