Coca-Cola, the king of soft drinks, is launching a vending machine subscription service in Japan that they hope will revive sales in their drink dispensers. The machines have been a common sight in the country for more than a hundred years, with snacks and toys and even pet food and beer. Even if you’ve never visited Japan, chances are that you know about them. Some may have encountered them on the Yakuza or Shenmue games at the very least. But you may not know that the pandemic has pummeled vending machine sales by over 35 percent as people were forced indoors and away from city centers.
Well, to get back customers, Coca-Cola is readying a subscription option via its Coke On smartphone app that will let you get one drink per day for 2,700 yen ($25) per month from 340,000 vending machines. I guess that’s handy if you drink that much soda, but Coke also offers other drinks in Japan like unsweetened tea and black coffee too. So it is worth it. The “Coke On Pass” service launches in May with a special promotional offer of 1,350 yen ($12.40) which should get more people using the app, which had 25 million downloads as of January. This will get more people drinking coke.
Source Engadget