The profile of today’s digital consumer—and their preferred purchasing habits across retail stores, fast food outlets, food courts, sporting and concert events or coffee corners—differs profoundly from that of the traditional customer for whom fountain dispensers and similar service machines were mostly originally designed and installed.

The digital consumer is characterized by the following:

• Always Connected: Uses mobile phones as the main device for browsing, comparing, ordering and paying.
• Omnichannel Mindset: Moves seamlessly between physical outlet, in which is present or not, and digital platforms. For example, checking online and buying in-store or discovering in-store one day and ordering online other.
• Experience-Oriented: Values speed, convenience, and personalization as much as the product itself.
• Data-Aware: Knows that their data is used, but expects value in return (better offers, tailored experiences, loyalty benefits).

In fast food outlets, cinemas, recreation, convenience stores and beverage corners, today’s digital consumers prioritize speed and ease—through mobile apps and delivery platforms like Uber Eats, Just Eat, or Glovo—along with rewards such as points, discounts, and gamified loyalty programs. They also expect customization, with the ability to easily tailor orders digitally. App-based ordering and subscription models add further appeal. Transparency and sustainability are increasingly valued, with reusable formats and eco-friendly packaging becoming part of the decision-making process. Above all, digital consumers seek the most convenient, frictionless, mobile-first ordering and checkout experiences.

Let’s consider a group of friends that arrives early at the cinema. In the best case, one of them has already booked the tickets on the cinema’s mobile app, using loyalty points for a discount — smooth and effortless. In the worst case, however, they all march to the box office, queue for tickets and try to order food and drinks at the same time.

The process gets harder now. If they want their drinks right away, they’re handed cups and told to walk over to the fountain dispensers, fill them up and then return to the box office to pay. If they prefer to consume them later, they are simply given empty cups to refill at another time. The fountains are often placed far from the hall so staff can keep an eye on self-service. Sometimes, there’s no self-service at all — which means lost sales and an extra trip back to the counter.

If midway through the movie someone changes their mind and decides they do want a refill, the journey starts all over again. Back and forth, like an obstacle course, the simple drink turns into quite a burden. Worse still, the system doesn’t adapt to real customer behavior — maybe at first you thought one drink was enough, but halfway through the popcorn you want another, during the break or the ads.

Food courts aren’t much better. Sometimes the fountains are hidden, behind the counter or placed in spots that hardly invite you to grab a drink. In quick-service restaurants, recreation centers or cinemas, the message to beverage consumers is that you are not allowed to change your mind unless you’re willing to go through that friction-filled process.

It’s not funny for the customer and it’s not funny for the sales the venue is missing.

Friction-filled consumer journey in venues

The good news is that the customer journey is becoming increasingly central to the industry’s mindset, extending beyond marketing and promotional campaigns. It might appear as a by-product of digitalization, rather than being developed in tandem, but that can be just fine. And it is precisely digitalization, together with IoT, mobility, and cloud technologies, that enables a redesigned customer journey and opens new opportunities for venue owners.

But technology already allows consumers on that venue to make use of their preferred beverage brand or store app to seamelessly order, on their mobile phones, collect their rewards and self-serve their preferred drinks in any fountain beverage dispensing. At any time, convenient and friction-less.

At BevServ, with our nuddo solution, we combine these technologies to deliver an experience that both enriches and expands possibilities for consumers, while unlocking new opportunities for brand and retail owners alike. Stay tuned for our next post to learn how.