As the battle with Coca-Cola continues to heat up, PepsiCo is introducing a new high-tech social vending machine.
The new machine allows customers to buy a friend a drink from a remote location. All the customer needs is the recipients name, mobile number and a short message or video. The recipient will receive the message and a code to redeem their beverage. Distance will no longer matter for those who wish to buy a friend a drink.
Customers can also send what the company has dubbed random acts of refreshment. This means the customer is given the ability to buy a drink for a stranger in a variety of circumstances. Some situations offered by PepsiCo as examples are when a city is having challenging weather and when a university wins a championship. The customer to could send a random drink in congratulations or as a pick-me-up.
“Social Vending extends our consumers’ social networks beyond the confines of their own devices and transforms a static, transaction-oriented experience into something fun and exciting,” said Mikel Durham, an innovation officer at PepsiCo Foodservice.
PepsiCo wasn’t the first to introduce technology to their vending machine. Coke has been trying a Freestyle machine since 2009. This machine has a digital touchscreen and allows over 100 flavor combinations.
PepsiCo plans to introduce the prototype of the Social Vending machine at a trade show in Chicago this week.
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