Italy-based vending machine and automated coffee machine manufacturer, Rhea Vendors Group has revealed plan to boost its investment in mainland China, as it sees robust growth in demand for coffee among the country’s growing middle-income earners.
Andrea Pozzolini, CEO of Rhea said, “China is an important country for Rhea and we have opened a branch in Shanghai in order to meet the demand of a mature market that is increasingly interested in what we have to offer.”
The new branch in Shanghai opened last year will enable Rhea to gain first hand information in this fast-growing market that is highly receptive to high levels of personalised products and services. The move will also strengthen its presence across Asia. Pozzolini said, “Our primary objective is to understand all aspects of this new market so as to respond to the specific needs of Chinese consumers by supporting important brands from coffee and food sectors and offering services to the automated retail channels.”
Rhea sees a clear and growing interest among Chinese consumers for the Italian coffee culture. It is open to any kind of collaboration with Chinese companies that share its values and vision.
Rhea has always been focused on solutions that go beyond the traditional boundaries of vending, said Pozzolini, while emphasising that China is an important benchmark in the implementation of 5G and a market that offers lots of opportunities for European manufacturers, and this will empower Rhea to accelerate its process of 5G adoptions. He added, “5G will enable new functionalities, revolutionising vending from a cultural as well as a technological perspective. Our mission is to improve the quality of the service, from the best cup of coffee to the automatic vending of any product, whose quality must be guaranteed by the machine.”
He explained that many cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data analytics as well as contactless and cashless technologies – have been deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic and have become key to providing increasingly customised products and services.
Rhea hopes to cooperate with Chinese payment apps such as Alipay and WeChat Pay, which are crucial for ‘New Retail’ – the integration, or interlinking, of online and offline shopping using modern technologies, data and customer engagement techniques to offer personalised solutions.
The pandemic has given a big boost to contactless consumption models and unmanned retail segments, which include unmanned convenience stores, vending machines and smart containers.
China’s coffee consumption is growing rapidly at around 20% annually, 2 percent above the global growth rate, driven by younger consumers who will account for more than a quarter of the increase in total coffee consumption in China by 2030.
