Micro Markets

Pandemic spurs UK vending, micro market gains, despite ‘traditional’ vending’s setback

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October 29, 2021

The pandemic has given new life to vending machines and micro markets in the U.K., according to a BBC report.

The U.K.'s Vending and Automated Retail Association reported that micro markets increased 367% growth last year.

In addition, sales of healthy snacks sold from vending machines jumped 147%.

Even though the pandemic slowed traditional vending business, causing 5,000 of the U.K.'s 24,500 vending employees to be "made redundant," a number of small businesses have introduced vending machines as an alternate selling tool during the pandemic.

For example, Mr Smyth's Milk Shack in Ireland opened during the pandemic, offering the dairy farm's Wholey Cow brand of milk in half-liter and liter recyclable glass bottles, attracting 80 to 90 customers daily for two months.