• by Chuck Martin , April 20, 2018

More things are becoming Internet-connected, and even vending machines are joining the ranks.

About 16% of the world’s 16 million machines are connected and more than 5 million will be online by 2022, according to a new report by Berg Insight.

The global base of connected vending machines reached 2.6 million units last year and the main driver has been a demand for cashless payments. North America has the largest share with 1.3 million compared to 600,000 for the European market. The number of connected vending machines I other parts of the world, mainly Australia and Japan totaled an estimated 700,000 units.

Connected machines provide knowledge about exactly what is sold, when and where, so retailers can adapt in relative real time.

The worldwide penetration rate of connected vending machines is projected to reach 32% by 2022.