The Census 2006, now available from the Automatic Vending Association (AVA), gives visitors to AVEX 2007 featuring the Cooler Show (Earls Court 2, London, 24-26 April 2007) a distinct view of the vending market. The Census has provided the UK industry with vital data for over a decade and its timely publication ahead of AVEX will be a blessing for visitors and exhibitors alike. The timeframe from collection to publication has been improved to deliver more meaningful statistics with further improvements planned for Census 2007.
Impressively the vending industry has always supplied a positive growth overall but drilling into the data gives a solid picture of the current trends; the winners and losers. With a machine park of some 523,351 in the UK an authoritative report is essential. The Census identifies a number of ‘Star Turns’:
- The overall growth of 0.9% does not do justice to the 4.4% growth in the snack/food sector (the greatest recorded since 2001) solidly driven by driven by a substantial 6.2% growth in glass fronted merchandisers (typically snack/confectionery machines).
- In the same way the modest 0.4% increase in the can/carton/bottle sector conceals the massive expansion of the bottle sector replacing a depleted can base.
The beverage sector can literally be described as hot with a strong move from hot & cold machines to hot only. Importantly the principal growth has come from the table top freshbrew segment up an amazing 9%.
Full details of AVEX 2007 featuring the Cooler Show can be found at www.avexinternational.com where you can pre-register and the AVA Census 2006 may be found at www.avavending.org
