Now, buy footwear of your choice from a vending machine

North Korea Times (ANI) Sunday 11th September, 2011

Australia is following the emerging trend of selling customer goods through vending machines with thongs - footwear of choice for Aussies everywhere.

For 20 dollars you can now rock up to a mall in Sydney and buy your very own pair from a vending machine.

The company behind the thong-vending machine, Havaianas, installed the first at Westfield Mall in Chatswood, north Sydney, on Friday, and said it's going to roll out more machines across the country later this year.

Havaianas said it has launched the machine as a means of more directly reaching its customers.

"Innovative ways of advertising and marketing have become increasingly difficult to gain cut-through within the market," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted marketing manager Emma Kowaleczko as saying.

University of Sydney Business School's Professor Charles Areni said it's the start of an Australian trend, with more and more vending machines being used to sell everyday consumer goods, even competing with online retail.

We enjoy the instant gratification of a vending machine purchase, rather than having to wait for the post to deliver our products, stated Prof Areni.

"We love stereotypes of what types of products are sold from vending machines and which ones are not," said the retail and marketing expert.

"I predict over the next ten years or so we'll see more of those stereotypes violated and we'll have that 'Oh my god, look what you can get out of a vending machine' reaction more and more," he added. (ANI)