MILAN, Italy – The inaugural conference of Venditalia 2016 was held on Wednsday morning in Asia Room Hall 3 of Fieramilanocity. The most important international exhibition for the Vending sector, leading every two years in Milan, opens.
The numbers of attendance at the fair show that this tenth edition will be a record-breaking event for Venditalia. 270 companies are in fact present (+20% compared to last year) from 21 Countries, with an area occupied by the stands of 13,700 square meters (+18%). 19 product categories will be represented and companies will present 52 previews during the 4 days of Venditalia.
They are news regarding some of the most “hot” topics in the sector: new products, new machines, mobile and touch screen technologies, accessibility systems in real time to data distributors and transmission systems of fees, the cash-less payment systems, free WiFi in public locations available in vending machines, vending machines that become HOT SPOT and APP for vending.
But also eco-sustainability – reverse vending, sustainability and social inclusion projects and innovations to more and more healthy diet, with gluten-free, lactose-free, fat-free, no added sugar, no GMO, organic, 100% natural and vegans.
Speakers at the opening conference were: Ernesto Piloni, president of Venditalia, Piero Angelo Lazzari, president of Confida, the Italian Association of Vending, Paolo Andrigo, Senior Manager at Accenture, Monica Balocco and Alessandro Fontana, Venditalia consultants.
«Venditalia, this year, is still the ultimate window on the world of vending,» said Ernesto Piloni, president of Venditalia Servizi, the company organizing the event, «A real hub of Vending, where professionals of the sector develop relationships and business, discover innovations and market trends, deepen technical and technological issues. If we look at the numbers, this is clear, but it is especially the quality of its content, that make Venditalia an international junction for trends and relationships in the Vending market.»
The success of Venditalia is that it is the most important international showcase for what the Vending expresses in technological innovation, planning, design and new products. All that, despite the Country since some years is in recession and the consumptions are braking. The Vending tries to respond to the crisis starting from the tenth edition. The opening event of this morning shows this.
«Italy is one of the world market leader,» Piero Angelo Lazzari, president of Confida, underlined, «Our companies are the main manufacturers and distributors, leaders in payment systems. Here there are prestigious brands of food and drinks and companies of services, owners of modern and innovative business models. And Venditalia is a reflection of this reality: Italian DNA that interacts with the rest of the world.»
The latest facts and figures on the industry elaborated by Accenture for Confida show that in 2015 the “Automatic” market in Italy has more than 800,000 machines (+1,5% compared to 2014) and generated a turnover of 1.8 billion Euros (+3.8%), for a total of almost 5 billion consumptions (+ 3.4%), including hot beverages (3.2 billion), cold beverages (967 million), snacks (775 million), ice cream (9.7 million) and meals (1.7 million).
In the same period the market of so-called “Portioned” (which includes the distribution of single-serve coffee pods or capsules, in offices and private homes) also it reached 1.8 billion euro turnover and 5.6 billion units coffee (2.6 billion for the business market and 3 billion for the family market).
«New business models and new challenges emerge in the world of Italian vending» Paolo Andrigo, Senior Manager Accenture, commented «The entry of non-traditional actors in recent years is changing the competitive landscape of the industry.
An ever greater attention to the final consumer, the digitization and assortments dedicated to the rental type become distinctive factors.»
Venditalia enters now into its heart, with all the innovations that distinguish this edition, like the space “MATCHING BUSINESS | READING ROOM | AREA NEW ENTRY”, where there are 8 business realities facing the Vending world. In the Asia Room and the Yellow Room A also, for the first time in the history of Venditalia, these days we will meet high quality workshops.
While in the new Area Kindergarten children aged 6 to 12 can play and have fun while creating the distributor of their dreams.
In the halls of Fiera Milano for Venditalia are expected more than 20,000 visitors from over 90 different Nations.
