Put your products here to become “bestsellers”! The hidden secrets of vending machines revealed

Vending machines operate 24/7, offer a simple purchasing method, and are found everywhere on the streets, making them a unique shopping experience. In Japan, the arrangement of products in vending machines can also vary depending on their location. In a typical 3 to 4-tier vending machine, the top-left slot is usually reserved for the item the manufacturer most wants to sell or for discounted promotions—for example, in a Coca-Cola vending machine, the top-left spot is definitely reserved for Coca-Cola itself.

According to a report by 《Shilik》 (Food Power), Shijia Xiuta, referred to by Japanese media as a “promoter of food culture,” investigated the secret arrangement strategies of Japanese vending machines: “The products sold may be fixed, but the arrangement is almost always decided on-site.”

1 Public Bathhouses

In Japanese anime, characters often dramatically drink a bottle of coffee milk after a bath—but research shows that’s not actually the case. In vending machines at public bathhouses, the top-selling items in the top-left slots are mostly sports drinks (21 instances), bottled water (14 instances), and tea (14 instances)—meaning nearly 50% of those top-left spots are occupied by sports drinks. Sweet coffee drinks are mostly placed in the second row, taking up as much as 46.2% of that space, making them more of a supporting act in public bathhouses.

2 Courthouses

In courthouse vending machines, the top-left slots are typically filled with teas, while the first row, aside from teas, mostly contains sweet drinks such as juices, Calpis, and milk tea. This suggests people may be looking for a refreshing cup of tea or a sweet beverage to lift their mood before or after a trial.

3 Tourist Attractions

At tourist spots, vending machines usually place tea beverages in the top-left slots. Even the exterior designs of these vending machines are often color-coordinated and patterned to blend in with the surrounding scenery, ensuring they don’t look out of place or detract from the beauty of the attraction.