Vending

European vending/OCS sales strong in 2019

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December 3, 2020

The total annual revenue for the European vending and coffee services industry in 2019 reached €17.2 billion ($20.91 billion), a 3.4% one-year gain over the prior year, while the number of machines deployed grew 1/1% to 4.16 million, according to a European Vending Association report.

While solid growth is observed in 21 out of the 22 markets covered in the report, the association recognized the severe impact COVID-19 has brought to the industry, according to a press release on the report findings.

The ongoing pandemic has delivered a "huge" drop in sales in 2020 and at a much higher scale than during the economic and financial crisis in 2008, according to the release.

The report, however, identifies longer term trends within vending and office coffee service, which the association believes will continue after the pandemic.

Some selected facts revealed by this latest report include:

• In Europe, vending machines sell 99 million food and beverage items daily.
• Hot beverages now represent 80% of the total market in terms of the number of vends.
• There are around 185 Europeans per vending machine, but this varies dramatically from 60 people per machine in the Netherlands to 1,850 in Turkey.
• Over 80% of European machines are located in the workplace.
• Ukraine has seen the largest market increase, with machine growth of 10.4% and a 28% growth in revenue within the last five years.
• Paper cups are now more common in vending than plastic beverage cups, but significant individual market differences apply.
• Micro markets have now been reported in 13 of the 22 markets covered, with Sweden and Russia leading the way.