News
12.23.2011Forum of European vending industry
PRESS RELEASE
THE EVA HOSTS DYNAMIC FORUM FOR THE EUROPEAN VENDING INDUSTRY
Another successful EVA Workshop themed: “European Vending – understanding current market issues and trends”, as well as its Annual General Assembly were held in
Brussels by the European Vending Association on 12 and 13
December.
Brussels, 19 December 2011 – At this time of the year, the EVA conducts its Annual General Assembly in the European capital. As with every other year, elections were held and Members of the Executive Committee and its President were voted in by the Association’s members for a two year mandate.
Few changes were made to the Executive Committee’s composition as only one of its Members stepped down from his position, Mr. Fioravante Allegrino, who contributed greatly to the EC during his term as representative of Southern European Operators. Mr. Lucio Pinetti, PR and Communications Manager, Liomatic, and President of the Italian Vending Association - Confida and Venditalia since 2010, replaced Mr. Allegrino at this week’s elections. Mr. Pinetti is no newcomer to the EVA’s EC as he has already been sitting on its Board as representative of Confida, in replacement of Luca Adriani.
The EVA EC was pleased to welcome Prof. Carlo Doglioni Majer, Vice-President and Managing Director of the Italian Vending Machine Manufacturer, Rheavendors, as a new Member of the EC, representing CONFIDA. Prof. Majer was also elected Vice-President on the EVA’s EC, replacing Hubert Boyer of Darea from this post. Hubert Boyer will, however, remain on the EC Board as representative of the French Vending Association -NAVSA. Mr. Arnaud van Amerongen, Managing Director of Aequator, was re- elected for a 3rd presidential mandate, which demonstrated voter confidence in the good work he has carried out for the EVA over the last years. The other Board members remain unchanged: Paul Theobald (MEI, Payment Systems), Brian Tustain (AVA), Michael Maurer (Northern Operators), Dr. Robert Hausleitner (BDV), Jan Marck Vrijlandt (Selecta, International Operators), Michal Piotrowiak (Central and Eastern European Operators) and Hugh Hose (Nestlé, Ingredient Suppliers).
During the AGM, Michael Maurer, Treasurer of the EVA, presented an overall positive, financial picture of the Association for 2011. He also announced rather encouraging figures for the 2012 budget, proving the good health of the Association. Catherine Piana, EVA Director General, presented the results of the bi-annual satisfaction survey. The AGM then unanimously adopted the Annual Report, presented by Catherine Piana. Amongst the highlights for 2011 were: a noticeable increase in membership (10 new Members in 2011, that is, over 10% increase) , the hard work of the Committees, the increase and improved use of the EVA’s communication tools, including social media – the EVA LinkedIn activity reached almost 1,000 direct contacts in 2011. The EVA’s DG then introduced some of the hot topics for 2012, in terms of regulation and lobby, which would be: environment, final steps of the Food Information Proposal, Official presentation of the new Coin Design Handbook at the Mint Directors Conference, and the obesity debate.
The 75 participants of the event were then invited to the stylish
BMW Showroom, for a most pleasant cocktail and dinner.
The following day, the session was opened by Arnaud van Amerongen, who presented the state of the industry over the past year. It was announced that the EVA is working with an external consultant, David Hoskin, a well-known industry’s expert who will be gathering market figures for 2010 and 2011. The results of the study will be available as of spring 2012, and will be free of charge for members of the EVA. The day progressed in perfect order with optimal involvement from the participants of the various roundtables.
After the lunch break, Mr. Ger O’Keeffe, Retail/Digital Signage Segment Manager from Intel, presented his view on the range of possibilities for the industry when applying his concept of “Intelligent Vending”. His presentation, “Trends, Disruptions and Innovations in Intelligent Vending”, was very well received by the participants, who were eager to learn more about the options and costs of new technologies when applied in vending machines.
At the end of the day, the Chairpersons of the 7 roundtables presented the main conclusions of the 3 sessions that took place throughout the day. Jan Marck Vrijlandt, Group Sales & Marketing Director from Selecta, who chaired the roundtable on “Current vending trends – 2012 and beyond” named a few of the opportunities that the sector may encounter in the near future: changes in consumer lifestyle such as meals on-the-go and “premiumization” of the hot drinks. Thanks to technology moving forward, new communication tools, such as social media networks, should facilitate capitalizing on these opportunities. Operators and machine manufacturers should work together to invest in machines that can support new technologies.
Brian Tustain, Chief Executive of Associated Vending Services, who chaired “Where is the opportunity for real growth in vending –and when?” concluded that despite today’s struggling economy, consumers are ready to pay more for their coffee when quality is met. Not only a wider choice of products should be offered to consumers, but also payment solutions and technologies, such as touch screens, should be incorporated in the machines. The key words from his roundtable would be: innovation, communication and “premiumization”.
Michal Piotrowiak, Managing Director of Mastercup, chaired the topic on “Price and overhead increase rises and how we absorb and cope with them?” Michal underpinned the fact that a vending operator should resemble a retail operator, which would greatly help to improve our image and visibility.
Paul Theobald, Managing Director, EMEA Vending from MEI continued with “Payment technology”; again, retail was mentioned as a reference for our industry, and basically machines should accept what consumers carry in their pockets. Paul mentioned the numerous tools that can be used as means of payment today and concluded that machines would not be able to accept all of those. The key word was how to accept the most popular payment options in a profitable way and with convenient technologies.
Catherine Piana, EVA’s Director General spoke about “Cross- industry cooperation” at her roundtable and analysed with participants the objectives, barriers, solutions and strategies for better cooperation amongst vending associations. The main objectives included alignment, standards, lobby and network and the barriers had mainly to do with different national cultures, and members’ own agendas and priorities. On the whole, participants were very optimistic and enthusiastic and felt that all were ready for a better exchange under the EVA’s leadership. Today’s technologies, such as webcasts, video conferencing and viral marketing would definitely take the Associations to the next level.
Arnaud van Amerongen, Managing Director from Aequator followed with his conclusions on “’Premiumization’ of the coffee offer” that were mainly driven by the perception of quality from the consumer. Some trends related to the coffee offer were mentioned: cup size (especially in Northern countries), the use of water filters, the shift from plastic cup to paper cup, branding in the coffee experience, increased interest from the consumer on coffee origins and all kinds of coffee specialties.
Finally, Lucio Pinetti, PR and Communication Manager, and Shareholder from Liomatic explained the main tips on “Capsule technology moves into vending”. He gave a brief background of capsule technology and its origins dating back from 1981, and its evolution into vending when the solution was sold to Lavazza. From this point onwards, capsule technology became evermore popular, thanks to the branding perceived by the consumer. It has become another way to increase the value of our products.
The participants were surveyed for satisfaction during the event and the initial feedback confirms this.
The EVA would like to thank the sponsors of the event for their great contribution: Rheavendors, as the exclusive Titanium sponsor, and Intel, Brita and N&W as Platinum sponsors. During the 2-day event, the sponsors displayed their latest machines and solutions in the exhibition space, which attracted much curiosity and many questions from all those present.
PRESS CONTACT Ana I. Esteban European Vending Association
T + 32 (0)2 650 05 63
Eae@vending-europe.eu www.vending-europe.eu
PRESS RELEASE
Please save the date for the EVA’s next AGM: 13 and 14 December 2012!
About the European Vending Association
The European Vending Association (EVA) is a not-for-profit organisation established in Brussels. It represents the interests of the European vending industry vis-à-vis the European Institutions and other relevant authorities or bodies.
