Touchscreen Technology Coming to Vending Machines

Vending Machines With Touchscreens Are Coming!

Touchscreen technology is coming to a vending machine near you. The future of vending is headed that way. We have touchscreens everywhere today and they aren’t just on smartphones and tablets. Consumers are beginning to expect touch when they go anywhere. Touch is really working its way into everything with a screen. New products are being introduced all the time. You can even get a refrigerator with a built-in touchscreen!

History of Touchscreens

The first finger-driven touchscreen was invented by E.A. Johnson in 1965. He worked at the Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern, United Kingdom. In 2001, Microsoft first introduced the concept of a “Tablet PC”. Now, companies like Samsung are experimenting with a flexible touchscreen to help viewing angles and 3M has experimented with gigantic touchscreen tables. Cars, like Tesla sedans, have a touchscreen module in them. My kids love the Coca Cola Freestyle at local restaurants. They love being able to choose their favorite soda combinations before dispensing and all at the touch of their fingers. I read about a Pepsi machine that has you play a game on its touchscreen before giving you a free beverage. Interaction with touchscreens makes vending fun. The Coke Interactive machine takes a picture of you at the machine and then emails that out to you! Touchscreens really are everywhere!

The biggest thing people want in a touchscreen is responsiveness. The size of onscreen elements is also crucial to the touch experience. Touchscreens in vending make choosing the item you want easy with large icons and easy interfacing. You simply select the item and pay for it. Touchscreens on vending machines can give nutritional information at a touch. You can also watch videos about the product and set up an interactive game or challenges that reward your customers. The options are limitless.

The Discount Vending Store Offers Interactive Touchscreen Vending Machines

With the increased demand for touchscreens on vending machines, The Discount Vending Store is now offering interactive screens on all our OMNI vending machine models.  Our CBD customers especially like this feature because so many of their customers don’t understand the products and the touchscreen allows them to watch videos of each product, read product reviews, see pictures, and more.

We just customized a machine for romance products as well and uploaded all their product videos onto the 22″ touchscreen.  It was a fun project and we are looking forward to our next vending adventure. If you would like to modernize your next vending machine and make it interactive for your customers, give us a call today.