Singapore Polytechnic launches nation’s largest vending machine gallery for retailers to testbed new business concepts

12 Dec 2017

Singapore, 12 December 2017 – Singapore Polytechnic (SP) has launched Singapore’s first and only gallery of novel vending machines for retailers to experiment new business concepts with the youth. Known as SP Innomall, it has a variety of 28 vending machines for test-bedding, in support of the Retail Industry Transformation Map (ITM) to help retailers leverage automated retail technologies to stay productive and competitive. 

Innovation platform for retailers

Currently, the retail industry is facing challenges which include rising rent, manpower crunch and shift in consumer behaviour towards e-commerce.

 

To address the challenges, a total of 17 local companies such as BRAND’S Suntory Asia, Guardian Health & Beauty and Singapore Press Holdings have decided to leverage the SP Innomall to gain insights into the new business model and testbed new concepts, products and services with a base of 16,000 students on campus. The wide range of products on offer range from health and wellness supplements, cosmetics and karaoke to feminine hygiene products.

 

The new platform will enable companies to tap on the expertise of the students from the Entrepreneurship module of the Diploma in Business Administration (DBA) course to conduct market research and develop new marketing concepts or ideas that better suit millennial wants and needs. This is a major target audience for the companies.  

 

Beneficial collaboration

A pilot test with Innomall began in June 2017. The companies partnered DBA students to run the exercise and analyse the data collected from the vending machines.

 

One such company is BRAND’S Suntory Asia, the company behind the well-known Essence of Chicken supplement. The company was exploring the use of vending machines to distribute their products as a means to improve availability. BRAND’S® was also hoping to better understand how millennials perceived their products so that they could tweak their marketing strategy.  

 

A group of DBA students started the process by collaborating with BRAND’S® to select and stock the various products in the vending machines. They also created a new approach of serving the Essence of Chicken chilled, instead of warming it, as an experiment. This was supplemented by a marketing plan to increase brand awareness, supply chain management and accounting. 

 

After analysing the data, the students discovered that:

1. Youth are receptive to buying BRAND’S® Essence of Chicken from a vending machine
2. Youth are receptive to drinking BRAND’S® Essence of Chicken chilled

Ms Isabella Tan, General Manager of BRAND’s Suntory Asia said, “The SP Innomall has given us a good platform to develop new marketing initiatives and tweak our existing ones. We see an opportunity in using high-tech vending machines to reach out to more customers, especially youth. In addition, we see this collaboration with the DBA students as our meaningful contribution to their learning journey. ”

Besides BRAND’s, cosmetics company Three Beauties of London also worked with DBA students to promote their cosmetic and nail care products among youth. One challenge Three Beauties faced was the perception that their products were targeted at mature women. Many youth were also unware that Three Beauties’ products do not contain toxic ingredients and are cruelty-free.

During the pilot test, students discovered that:  

1. Youth are not receptive to buying cosmetics from a vending machine without any advertising or visuals
2. Youth want convenience and interactivity when buying cosmetics

Based on the results, DBA students proposed the addition of a multimedia screen to portray the variety and depth of colours in the company’s range of lipsticks. An interactive touchscreen was also added to allow youth to browse pictures of the cosmetics and buy it with the touch of a button.

“Being a part of the student-run SP InnoMall has taught me many aspects of running a business, such as market research, logistics, human resource management and marketing. The real-life hands-on learning has allowed me to relate to the lessons I picked up in the classroom. This invaluable experience will serve me in good stead when I set up my own business,” shared Diploma in Business Administration student, Kelyn Chur.

 

END

For Media Enquiries:

Frank Chua

Communications Specialist               

T: 6870 7043

M: 9771 7871

Email: frank_chua@sp.edu.sg

 

Deanna Bonaparte

Communications Executive

T: 65902782

M: 9270 1790

Email: deanna_bonaparte@sp.edu.sg

 

About Singapore Polytechnic (www.sp.edu.sg)

Established in 1954, Singapore Polytechnic (SP) is Singapore’s first polytechnic. It has 10 schools that offer 46 full-time courses for close to 16,000 students. SP adopts a proven creative teaching and learning framework and offers students a holistic, authentic and industry-relevant curriculum, innovative and vibrant learning spaces, and enriching overseas programmes.  

The Polytechnic is committed to producing competent and versatile graduates who are also imbued with sound values, so that they can be work ready, life ready and world-ready. SP has more than 195,000 graduates and among them are successful entrepreneurs, top executives in multi-national and public-listed corporations, and well-known professionals across various industries and leaders in government.

SP clinched the inaugural ASEAN People’s Award in 2015 for its contributions toward the region’s community-building efforts. SP is also the first polytechnic to be awarded the President’s Award for the Environment in 2010 and the President's Social Service Award in 2011.

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