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Vianet is excited to announce that we have partnered with Vendekin Technologies‘ mobile payment solution to drive further growth into the unattended retail market in the UK. This disruptive technology will provide a seamless mobile checkout experience for customers and help operators increase their sales with a lower capital outlay.
Whether you own a vending machine, micro market, laundrette, EV charging station, plus much more, QR payment is here for your unattended business. Already in 16 countries, Vendekin is leading a new revolution in fully contactless payment technology.
In 4 easy steps, customers can access any of your product offerings, simply scan, select, pay, and collect. It’s that easy! With no limits on how many products/services they can select in one transaction, saving customers time at every visit.
Fully integrated with our SmartVend platform, you still have access to all data for your entire estate, giving you the freedom to choose how customers pay.
If you want more information on QR payment, please don’t hesitate to reach out. For more information on our products and services contact sales@vianetplc.com. Don’t forget to request your free demo today!
Vendex Midlands 2023 was a success! On Wednesday 22nd, April Vianet exhibited at the Vendex Midlands show in Milton Keynes. It was a day full of connecting with new faces and catching up with familiar ones. We wanted to make a splash with our largest stand yet, pulling out all the stops. Showcasing our star product, SmartVend, and our long-standing favourites, SmartContact and SmartContact Pro.
Alongside our product offering was a live demonstration of our new QR payment feature, courtesy of our partnership with Vendekin Technologies. The stand displayed a vending machine and smart fridge equipped with QR payment. We had a fantastic turnout and met so many great connections. Thank you to all who participated in our putting competition, for a chance to win a trip to Gleneagles. If you didn’t win the golfing opportunity, we hope you were lucky with our free-vend activity, with the chance to win a gift card from our vending machine.
We thoroughly enjoyed exhibiting this year, it was such a fantastic event! Our QR payment offering drove a lot of interest and encouraged visitors to interact with the stand. Vendex North is just around the corner, so we can’t wait to come back even bigger and better! – Charlotte Biggs (Marketing and Communications Manager)
If you want more information on anything you saw at the show, or if you weren’t able to make it, please don’t hesitate to reach out. For more information on our products and services contact sales@vianetplc.com. Don’t forget to request your free demo today!
Vianet attended the NIVO Supplier of The Year Lunch on January 24th, 2023. NIVO provide a range of business support services for independent regional vending operators and suppliers. With over 260 Operator Members and an additional 60+ supply members, NIVO offer a vast and varied marketing and support program to bring all interested parties together.
Our Marketing and Communications Manager and Senior Client Relationship Manager had a fantastic day networking with all of the other attendees. The event was held at the Woodhall Hills Golf Club in Calverley, Leeds. With suppliers attending from across the vending industry, NIVO presented a variety of awards. The awards ceremony was followed by a delicious lunch and engaging conversation. It was a great day to network with familiar faces and new ones.
“As a new member of the vending community and of Vianet, I have had the warmest of welcomes. The event was a great way to meet industry leaders and new connections. NIVO put on a terrific day and helped introduce me to relevant attendees. I look forward to catching up with everyone in the months to come!”
– Charlotte Biggs (Marketing & Communications Manager, Vianet).
Vianet was awarded the Highly Commended award for Supplier of The Year.
Vianet was awarded the Highly Commended award for Supplier of The Year.Thank you to all of our wonderful customers for voting for us and supporting us each year. We couldn’t do it without you! Our Senior Client Relationship Manager, Kirsty Kirk received the award on Vianet’s behalf. Nominated and voted by Operator members, the award represents an ongoing emphasis on service, as well as constantly providing the highest levels of support. Vianet does this through dedicated customer support, in-house engineers, and committed client managers. We look forward to continuing to provide the best possible service for our customers in all that we do.
A few closing words from our Commercial Director, Mark Parry –
“We are delighted to have received the Highly Commended Award for Supplier of The Year from NIVO. Our teams have been working incredibly hard over the past 12 months, which is why we couldn’t be happier that those efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. While always striving to improve and develop, we look forward to continuing to provide high-quality service for our customers. Thank you to all of our teams for helping us achieve this award and for all of your hard work in service. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful customers for supporting and voting for us. We couldn’t do this without you.”
– Mark Parry (Commercial Director, Vianet)
For more information on our products and services contact sales@vianetplc.com. Don’t forget to request your free demo today!
Compass Group are the largest contract foodservice company in the world, predominantly focus on Catering, Cleaning and Vending with some facilities management services.
In 2018, Vianet successfully won the preferred supplier status across Compass UK & Ireland to provide a volume of 5000 contactless readers over 5 years.
Find out more by clicking the image below to read our strategic partnership with Compass Group in further detail.
If you’d like to find out more about how our products and services can transform your vending business performance, please check out our Vending Solutions.
The Vendies is the UK’s national Vending Industry Awards, recognising talent, achievements and successes of those within the sector.These awards will continue its longstanding tradition of recognising and rewarding companies and individuals that have made exceptional contributions to the trade.
Now more than ever, it is vital that the hard work of operators and suppliers in the vending market – and the individuals at the heart of these companies – is recognised and celebrated.
Votes are now open – click here to vote.
- Best Ancillary Product / Service Award – SmartVend
- Best Payment System Award – SmartContact Pro
- Best Supplier Website Award
- Best Customer Service Award
- COVID Initiative Award
- Best Vending Project Award – SmartVend
- Corporate Responsibility Award
Venta SVS Ltd is a provider of disposable e-cigarettes to mental health services, with over 74 vending machines in their estate.
Venta SVS Ltd’s vending machine in-situ with Vianet’s SmartContact installed
With the cost of products higher than a typical vending machine, they were able to benefit with Vianet’s rental scheme and low transaction charges, saving 1.5% in transaction fees across their turnover.
Find out more by clicking the image below to read our strategic partnership with Venta SVS Ltd in further detail.
If you’d like to find out more about how our products and services can transform your vending business performance, please check out our vending solutions.
JW Vending recognised that cashless and contactless are the future of payment and approached Vianet to provide them with a cost effective and reliable contactless solution to support them in making that transition. Vianet deliver a combination of contactless payment, telemetry and data insight solutions to JW Vending, along with expert support & guidance in order to grow their business. With high quality products and accessible technology, Vianet continues to prove invaluable to JW Vending as they continue their partnership.
Find out more by clicking the image below to read our case study in further detail.
Vendex North was held on 10th November 2021, and the team at Vianet attended and exhibited at our first large scale vending show since before Covid-19 restrictions first began. The show held in Leeds attracted a great number of visitors across the vending industry after a long period of lockdowns and restrictions which prevented events from happening. Vianet were greatly anticipating this event after such a long time without physical shows. We are pleased to have caught up with lots of our existing customers as well as new vending operators, contract caterers, service providers and more.
Vendex is a well-recognised exhibition and networking event established in 2003 (Vendex, 2021). The event offers great exposure and opportunities for both exhibitors and visitors to get the latest industry news, products, and services.
Vianet Showcases Products and Services to Vendex Attendees
Vianet Goodies and SmartContact Pro, in the Vending Machine Courtesy of Evoca
Situated near the entrance at Vendex, we had great visibility and opportunity to showcase our product offerings with live demos, devices, and new product videos. Vianet also launched our new website this week, and it was great to get feedback and shout about this to our visitors at the event to go and check it out.
On the Vianet stand, we offered attendees at the event the opportunity to try out our brand-new, all-in-one contactless payment device, SmartContact Pro. With an exciting opportunity to free vend and win mystery prizes, our SmartContact Pro was installed on a vending machine (Melodia vending machine supplied courtesy of Evoca Group) to give visitors first-hand experience of the new terminal. It was a buzzing atmosphere as visitors were keen to try and win some big prizes we had up for grabs, including £10-£50 Amazon gift cards, wireless chargers and many more.
Our Client Manager, Kirsty Kirk said:
“Vendex North was a great success. It was good to see so many operators in attendance, especially after such a long period of remote working. We’re looking forward to sharing more innovation updates with Vianet clients and prospects in the near future.”
Jack Cooke and Callum Hardy, Business Development Executives, by Vianet’s Stand at Vendex North
In addition, throughout the day, there were plenty of opportunities to explore what’s currently out there in the vending industry as a range of businesses across the sector were in attendance such as PepsiCo, Red Bull, NIVO and many more.
Rachel Little, Marketing Manager said:
“This is the first Vendex event I’ve done since starting at Vianet, and it was fantastic to finally be able to showcase what we’ve been busy with in the background over the last two years.
Vianet has had a lot going on during the pandemic with the release of SmartVend and the launch of our new contactless payment solution, so there is a lot for us to be shouting about. It was also great to be able to finally put some faces to names in the vending industry!”
Overall, Vendex North was an important opportunity for Vianet to meet clients and prospects to discuss our exciting product developments and plans going forward.
Don’t worry if you didn’t manage to catch us at Vendex North, as we will be attending Vendex Midlands 2022 in Milton Keynes on 26th April 2022.
Alternatively, if you’d like to find out more about how our products and services can transform your vending business performance, you can contact us directly through our enquiry form.
Data insight is critical to providing our customers the opportunity to transform their business performance. Our SmartVend platform offers easy functionality, invaluable insight, and concise reporting to improve profitability and drive efficiency. Vianet has been working hard to grow their product offerings within vending as part of our ongoing commitment to ensure we deliver against the present and – more importantly – future requirements of our customers.
Our dedicated technology team has extensive industry expertise and, after recently completing the second phase of the SmartVend Roadmap, are currently working hard on the next exciting development of our journey. Vianet’s most recent releases have seen the introduction of an integrated solution for stock and warehouse management, and are proud to now introduce the SmartVend Mobile App.
MAXIMISING VENDING INSIGHTS AND OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCIES WITH THE BRAND NEW SMARTVEND MOBILE APP
The SmartVend Mobile App will provide SmartVend customers with enhanced functionality in the field and a more user-friendly experience. Working in conjunction with the SmartVend platform, the app is designed to allow operators and engineers to work as efficiently and accurately as possible ensuring accurate and up-to-date operational data at all times.
Vianet’s Lead Software Engineer, Richard Smith said:
“Our last production release in June saw us deliver a brand-new stock module to the platform, enabling our customers to more effectively manage their stock across their estate by being able to track an item from the warehouse all the way to the machine. Our next release is due this month and will see the delivery of the SmartVend Mobile App for android devices, further enhancing our ability to collect and analyse data for our vending customers. We are very excited to be launching this app whilst we continue to work on the next phase of delivery for the platform, which will be a new service module.”
HOW SMARTVEND MOBILE APP CAN HELP YOU TO OPTIMISE YOUR VENDING AND MACHINE OPERATIONS
The all-new app will ensure the best experience possible for the vending and unattended retail sectors. It provides customers with numerous improved efficiencies including but not limited to:
- The ability to update stock, counter and cash levels.
- Add photos to a visit.
- Manage daily list of jobs; which sites to visit, which machines to restock etc.
- Work offline when an internet connection is not available.
- Complete stocktakes and stock transfers from the palm of their hands.
Keep your eyes peeled for further functionality and products as we move through 2021. Our customer experience team are ready and waiting to assist customers with any questions. They have comprehensive training videos for the app and the portal is available now on our SmartAcademy site.
If you would like to find out more about how our SmartVend platform can help drive your vending business forward, please contact our team today.
As we navigate our way through the remaining restrictions on hospitality and beyond, our Vianet team attended and exhibited at our first physical event in over 18 months. We are pleased to have caught up with Operators and Supply Members across Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th July 2021. The NIVO’s Business Expo and Networking Golf Event was an important opportunity for us to discuss our products and services prepared this past year.
Established over 30 years ago, NIVO represents National Independent Vending Operators with over 250 operator members and over 90 supply members (NIVO Group, 2021). They provide support and networking opportunities in the vending industries, and acts as the organisers of these events held annually.
VIANET PREPARES FOR EXCITING PRODUCTS RELEASING OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS
During the first day’s expo and seminar, we had the opportunity to showcase our products on the stand with live demo devices and talk to both vending operators and clients. Recently, we revealed our SmartVend roadmap as the functionality expands into new Stock Management Module and SmartVend mobile app in the very near future. Alongside the display of SmartMetrics and our current contactless payment solution SmartContact, we have given a preview of the SmartContact Pro which is coming soon. The brand-new contactless payment reader will offer vending operators both style and functionality suitable for their business needs.
Cole Little, Business Development Manager pictured at Day 1 of NIVO’s Seminar Event.
Further details of our product roadmap were also covered in a 5-minute talk at the ‘Five Minutes of Fame’ seminar event. In addition to our own talks, there were plenty of other presentations and talks held by different businesses within the vending industry including the AVA, Coca Cola and Red Bull.
Our Marketing Manager, Rachel Little had this to say: “This is the first physical event we’ve been able to attend and my first expo with Vianet. It’s been fantastic to be out and finally getting to meet and socialise with some of our clients and contacts in the industry. It’s also been great being able to showcase some of the exciting things Vianet have been working hard on over the last 2 years.”
(RIGHT) James Dickson, Chairman and Mark Parry, Commercial Director pictured at Day 2 of NIVO’s Networking Golf Event.
In the Vianet stand, we also offered customers goodie bags featuring our product leaflets, new brochure and some golf balls for the event the following day.
(LEFT IMAGE) James Dickson, Cole Little, and Mark Parry by our Vianet stand.
In day 2, our Chairman James Dickson, alongside the Vianet team Mark Parry, Paul Land, Paul Sansome and Cole Little had taken some of our clients from the Wilkes Group and Simon Wilkes out on their 4-ball teams. There was perfect weather and opportunities to network with our Vianet team and some great people in the industry throughout the day.
Paul Sansome, Vianet’s Business Development Manager did their team proud by taking home prize for the longest drive at the golf event, hitting a 370 yard monster, landing on the green.
(RIGHT) Paul Sansome with Graham Kingaby – Managing Director at NIVO Group – collecting his prize for the longest drive.
If you’d like to find out more about how our products and services can transform your vending business performance, please contact Vianet through our enquiry form.