OneShow Picks Up The Pace

The National Automatic Merchandising Association's annual convention and trade show is a great opportunity to see new things, catch up with old friends and make some new ones. This year's NAMA OneShow continued the event's steady rebound and attracted almost 70 first-time exhibitors. I believe that people interested in selling to the vending trade have begun to recognize (or remember) that there's real value in an industry-specific exhibition, and are realizing the limitations of the Internet for marketing communications. As valuable as the Internet can be as a component of an effective communication program, the need for face-to-face interaction and "tire-kicking" in marketing is more vital than ever.

The 2016 OneShow was well attended, but a trade show does not have to attract huge crowds to be worthwhile. What's needed is a solid core of substantial buyers who make it rewarding for exhibitors and attractive to participants who recognize the value of seeing the state of the art under one roof, in an atmosphere that encourages asking and answering questions.

This year's event was altogether positive. The program spoke to current operator concerns and interests, as was evident at the opening "Roadmap to Technology" seminar moderated by NAMA endowed professor Michael Kasavana, Michigan State University (East Lansing). The unusual general session also addressed the topic of innovation by staging an entertaining "Swim with the Sharks" competition that featured Shark Tank's costars Lori Greiner and Robert Herjavec, along with an impressive group of students from Michigan State who competed as teams to win a $10,000 prize pool.

And, responding to the profound transformations taking place in our industry, NAMA unveiled its "big reveal" -- a new brand identity, which includes a redesigned logo and tagline "Bringing Convenience to Life," designed to communicate the 80-year-old association's core value and define it in terms that better reflect its diversity.

Of course, it's no secret that technology has been the main driver that is enabling our industry to enhance the customer's experience and create more consumer-focused relationships. Since well before World War II, the retailing industry has explored unattended points of sale tentatively, as a possible method for handling transactions that do not require the services of a clerk. However, until recently, these experiments have not caught on because the technology required to provide sufficient capacity, selectivity, pricing flexibility and customer interactivity just didn't exist. But now it does, and there is a huge opportunity for a much wider range of automated retailing innovations based on vending.

This development has been much in evidence at recent NAMA shows, and it accelerated at this one. We've been anticipating this for decades, and have wondered whether established vending operators will be the ones to benefit from it, rather than visionary entrepreneurs or large retailing chains.

This is still an open question. Vending, whose pre-World War II origins were in public locations, redefined itself as a workplace refreshments provider as the full-line revolution met the postwar manufacturing boom. Bottlers and bulk vendors continue to serve "street" stops (as did cigarette operators), and any full-line vendor can meet a location's request for some machines in the front of a store, as well as in the staff accommodations in the back. But, in general, the most impressive examples of vending technology have seldom been seen by the majority of the general public. This is changing. While vending always has delivered convenience, and always will, I'm confident that it no longer is regarded as a last resort, and is well placed to become a destination.

No post-convention opinion piece would be complete without some suggestions for improvement, so I'll complete this one by making some.

First, there has been a steady trend toward front-loading the educational program, so most seminars are held on Wednesday. The problem with this is that it has become impossible for one person to attend every educational event that interests him or her. Last year's OneShow offered three concurrent business sessions in the first Wednesday-morning round, four in the second and four in the third. This year's presented five in the first round, four in the second and four in the third. Even an operator who is active only in vending, or in coffee service, can find it impossible to take advantage of all OneShow opportunities for gaining valuable information. And, as the show continues to grow, there still are only 131â_x0081_„2 hours devoted to exhibits. I suppose there's no pleasing everyone.

Those cavils aside, the 2016 OneShow was an inspiring signal that the vending industry is alive, well and evolving in unexpected, imaginative and profitable directions.