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Opportunities

A market clearly at the beginning of discovering its global potential (Germany, which boasts 82 million sophisticated consumers yet still has some downright archaic rules on shop hours, currently has only two Shop24 machines installed), this is one nice business to get involved in on a partnership, investment or franchise level!

Automated convenience stores / vending machines

In a nation where labor is très expensive and you may get fined for working for more than 35 hours a week, vending machines should do well. Case in point: Paris based Yatoo Partoo (‘everything everywhere’) exploits 31 massive refrigerated vending machines in France and Spain. They resemble mini-convenience stores with the shopkeeper replaced by a robotic hand, ready to take your order 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Selling everything from milk and cat food to toilet paper and toothpaste, Yatoo Partoo is an urban life-saver par excellence! Competition comes from Belgian Shop24, which now operates 160 stores in 7 European countries, with another 150 stores in the pipeline. Yatoo Partoo’s and Shop24’s only American counterpart, ‘Shop2000‘, hails from Exton, Pennsylvania and operates only a handful of automated stores. All companies use real-time, online monitoring of performance, sales transactions, inventory and cash levels.

Opportunities

A market clearly at the beginning of discovering its global potential (Germany, which boasts 82 million sophisticated consumers yet still has some downright archaic rules on shop hours, currently has only two Shop24 machines installed), this is one nice business to get involved in on a partnership, investment or franchise level!