Brazil may not be as creative as Japan when it comes to vending machines products - since we don’t have machines selling crabs or lobsters as in the Asian country -, but people may find the products sold here a bit strange.

In Brazil

Vending machines were first brought to Brazil by Coke, in 1992. By that time, the country was still trying to attain economic stability, which was accomplished in 1994 through Plano Real. Once economically established, some emerging companies focused mainly in this kind of business. Back in 1996, there were already 10,000 vending machines spread throughout Brazil.In 2013, the estimated number of vending machines operating in the country stood at 80,000, according to ABVA or Associação Brasileira de Vendas Automáticas, the Brazilian Association of Vending Machines. Out of these, 65% of the machines were responsible for selling hot drinks, 21% for cold drinks, 13% for snacks and 1% for selling other products. Still according to the Association, the forecast for 2013 indicated these machines would generate a yearly income of approximately USD 300 million.The proportion between machines and inhabitants in Brazil is one machine per 2,500 people, a low number compared to the 90 inhabitants per machine in the United States, which accounts for over 50 million vending machines, responsible for an income of USD 36 billion per year.The sector, however, is increasing 20% per year in Brazil, and new measures may be taken in order to elevate this number even more, such as a wider acceptance of credit and debit cards in the purchase and payments via mobile phone.Vending machines are usually placed in metro stations, malls, schools, universities, cinemas, hotels and even hospitals. The availability of specific vending machines may vary according to the places and cities throughout Brazil.

Products

Besides the traditional vending machines selling drinks, snacks and chocolate, in Brazil there are vending machines offering not so conventional products. In some metro stations in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, it is possible to find vending machines exclusively for books - and the interesting thing is that in most of them, the customers are the ones who choose how much they are going to pay for the book they picked. The prices of most of these machines are not established; usually there is only a minimum amount which has to be inserted, and it may vary between BRL 2 and BRL 10 - currently USD 0.88 and USD 4.38.Apart from books, there are also vending machines dispensing flowers, which come separately in bouquets. Flash drives, memory cards, and most recently, pizza are other items sold in these machines. In some places, even printer inks are sold in vending machines. Restaurants and bakeries may also count with vending machines for kids - those ones filled with either small toys or bouncy balls. Moreover, there are specialized franchises selling croquettes, which are stored in small individual compartments.

By www.thebrazilbusiness.com

NEWS TAGS: vending business