Digital Vend
Industrial Design // Mechanical & Electronic Engineering
Overview

The Digital Vend vending machine pushed the boundaries of what was possible in a wall mounted vending machine, at a sensible price. It delivered on what many vending consultancies said wasn't possible - to create a fully integrated, smart vending machine, at a price that positioned it competitively within the Vending marketplace.

Designing and engineering the digital vend was an interative process, undertaken in close collaboration with key partners and prospective clients, to create a truly unique product.

Since launched, the Digital Vend has demonstrated that vending is, in fact, highly profitable. It has delivered a sustained uplift in sales of over 400% on average, and defined a new bench mark for wall-mounted vending.

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Brief

To create a world-leading vending machine, that was always connected, easy to install and maintain, and most importantly engaged consumers, ultimately driving an increase in sales. Our client was originally hoping for a mere 25% sales increase during trials as an indicator of success - what we delivered would re-define vending for years to come.

  • A unique, simple yet elegant design
  • Cost effective manufacturing, competitive within the pre-existing marketplace
  • Full connectivity, for data and instant business intelligence
Industrial Design

The design process was extremely iterative. Our designers and engineers experimented with a range of designs, from the ordinary to the extraordinary. What they arrived at was a sensible design that felt familiar, elegant and likeable. It also had to set the stage for future designs and features to come, such as touch interactivity and new payment methods.

  • Easily customisable for different clients and environments
  • A modular design, to withstand vandalism, and provide cost-effective repairs
  • A sexy look, with a premium feel
Electronic Design & Development

The electronic design was originally intended to only capture the internal vending controllers. However, the disparity in cost of integrating screen drivers and audio amplification as a stand-alone board led our engineers to embed these features directly in to our own board. This delivered fantastic savings, reduced potential complications (less to go wrong) and delivered a more seamless solution.

  • Integrated vending controller
  • Integrated video encoding/decoding
  • Integrated audio amplification and handling
  • Simple troubleshooting LED's for on-site maintenance
Dynamic Pricing

The Digital Vend was the first wall-mounted vending machine to support truly dynamic pricing. This was partly a requested feature, and partly a future proofing excercise.

By implementing dynamic pricing, future payment methods would enable a far more sensible pricing strategy to be implemented, rather than relying on clean denominations (eg: £2 or £3, with nothing in between). Clients can create price schedules, and vary pricing based on different criteria:

  • Adjust pricing based on time of day or week-day
  • Create A/B split tests with pricing remotely
  • Optimise price points over time
Mechanical Engineering

Our engineers carefully studied and tested existing vending mechanisms and determined that there was a lack of a truly adaptable, versatile and reliable mechanism on the market.

By seeking inspiration from the best machines on the market, they created and patented a unique vending mechanism, enabling clients to adjust machine configurations on demand, and enabling each product column to adjust to a wide range of product sizes.

Prototyping

The Digital Vend leveraged the latest in rapid prototyping methods to create proof of concept parts, that were collectively used in field trials from very early on. These included 3D printing and silicon resin moulding, enabling working parts to be created and tested.

3D Printing & Silicon Resin Moulds were used for rapid testing
Early prototypes were field deployed for genuine user testing
Cost Reduction

From the outset Aeguana was aware that the Digital Vend would only be commercially viable if it could compete within the pre-existing marketplace for wall-mounted vending machines. Every action taken was focused on simplification: manufacturing, assembly, maintenance. It had to be stunningly simple.

Item Approach
Mechanical Streamlining manufacturing processes, minimising components
Electronics Consolidation of PCBs, On-board media management, Strategic Component Selection
Sourced Components Using trusted global partners, selecting standardised components
Assembly Automating testing (electrical & software), minimising components
Results

The Digital Vend solves real world problems, delivering true value. View some of our key results below.

400%

Minimum increase in like-for-like sales during trials with nationwide operators

37%

Reduction in retail price, compared to next best alternative on the market globally

75%

Reduction in service visits by providing in-field business intelligence

Other Recent Work
Digital Vend
Reuters
Kellogg's