Arya News - Due to sluggish sales and rising maintenance costs, the profitability of vending machines in Japan has deteriorated over recent years. Some companies have even taken the plunge and decided to pull out of the business altogether.
TOKYO – Major beverage companies are reviewing their vending machine businesses one after another. Once viewing them as highly profitable “money makers,” they had increasingly installed the machines. But, due to sluggish sales and rising maintenance costs, their profitability has deteriorated in recent years. Some companies are taking the plunge and pulling out of the business.
Sluggish demand
In March, Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage Ltd. announced it would sell its beverage vending machine business to Lifedrink Company, Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of soft drinks.
Pokka Sapporo had about 100,000 vending machines in operation at its peak, but the number has fallen to about 40,000 units today. As to the reason for selling the vending machine business, the company said: “Against a backdrop of rising sales prices and consumers’ belt-tightening, the demand has been sluggish. The business environment is getting increasingly harsh.”
In March, DyDo Group Holdings, Inc. also announced plans to remove about 20,000 unprofitable vending machines out of a fleet of about 270,000 units across the country.
Although the vending machine business accounts for 90% of the company’s beverage business sales at home, it is reviewing its strategy because of sluggish sales.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Budget-conscious attitudes
Vending machines used to be the biggest source of profits for beverage manufacturers because they enable them to sell their products at list prices, just like a company’s directly managed stores. Consequently, companies rushed to expand their vending machine networks.
However, when the consumption tax was raised from 5% to 8% in 2014, there emerged price disparities between vending machines and retail outlets such as convenience stores. This is because retail stores can adjust their prices in units of ¥1, whereas vending machines can only adjust the prices in units of ¥10.
As a result, consumers shifted to buying the products at convenience stores, leading to a decline in both sales through vending machines and the number of vending machines in operation.
Furthermore, the trend toward staying home amid the COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020 further spurred the decline in sales.
Coupled with soaring maintenance costs such as electricity bills and distribution costs, the profitability of the beverage vending machine business deteriorated. Against the backdrop of current price increases, consumers’ growing tendency to save money has also become a headwind.
According to Inryo Soken, a beverage market research firm, the number of vending machines selling soft drinks stood at 1.95 million units in 2025, down 20% from 2014 when it peaked at 2.47 million units.
The sales volume per machine fell to 205 cases per year, a drop of nearly 40% from the peak.
Citing sluggish vending machine sales and other factors, Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Holdings Inc. posted a loss of ¥88.3 billion for its fiscal year ending on Dec. 31, 2025, while Ito En, Ltd, a leading green tea beverage maker, posted a ¥13.8 billion loss for the fiscal year ending April 30, 2026.
Fan merch, CO₂ capture
Nevertheless, vending machines serve as a connection between brands and consumers. There are also moves to add new value to them.
Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd. aims to seize the demand related to “fan activities.”
The company is deploying vending machines featuring beverages with labels decorated with anime characters and other designs. It plans to increase the number of such vending machines from the current 5,400 sites to 11,000 by 2028.
The company also said that it plans to install a new type of vending machine for acrylic cards and pin badges. “We want to make this a pillar of our new vending machine business,” the company said.
Asahi Soft Drinks Co. began adopting vending machines that can absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air in June 2023.
By placing a special CO₂-absorbing material in the vacant space inside the vending machine, each unit is said to absorb about 60 kilograms of CO₂ per year, equivalent to about 20 cedar trees.
Following the introduction, the company has expanded the installation of such machines at commercial facilities and schools. “We have been able to create new value with vending machines,” the company said.
World’s oldest vending machine
The oldest vending machine in the world was a “holy water vending machine” that is said to have existed in ancient Egypt. The mechanism was such that when one inserted a coin, water would come out according to the coin’s weight. The water was said to have been sold for use in rituals and so on.
It was in Britain in the latter half of the 1800s when such vending machines as we see today first appeared, selling beverages and food products including snacks. In 1962, Coca-Cola made a full-fledged entry into the Japanese market, leading to an increase in vending machines selling soft drinks.
Now, vending machines selling items other than beverages have become conspicuous. SDRS Inc., a company that manufactures and sells vending machines, began selling frozen gyoza and ramen in partnership with food manufacturers in 2021.
It has also been rolling out “Meat Gacha” vending machines where customers can win premium meat, and machines selling local specialty gourmet foods.
The company says: “Vending machines can also help deal with the worsening labor shortage. We intend to expand our range of goods and services, going forward.”