Smart / connected vending machines
Deploy vending machines with telemetry, dynamic pricing, and card readers in high-traffic locations.
The idea, in plain language
This business deploys unattended vending machines with card readers, telemetry, or novel products in high-traffic locations, making money from product sales after machine, inventory, location, maintenance, and payment costs. Customers are passersby at strong locations, while the real business customer is often the venue that allows placement. It takes upfront capital, location sales, hardware maintenance, replenishment, security planning, and phone-based monitoring; software can improve operations but does not remove the physical work. The videos cite perfume machines at about $3,250 each, $700-$3,000 net profit per machine per month, 1-4 month payback, discounts at 5+ units, an ice and water operator with four locations and no full-time employees, Scott Galloway reportedly making $5M per year in speaking fees in the broader ideas episode, and no hard vending numbers for the AI-tool and Instagram-idea episodes.
Where the sources agree
- Location quality is the core constraint for vending, because traffic and context determine sales.
- Unattended retail can be monitored remotely, but machines still need maintenance, stocking, security, and local operations.
- Novelty products can create viral attention, but they still have to work as unit-economics businesses.
- Buying distressed or discounted machines can improve payback if the operator can handle deployment and upkeep.
Where they differ
- Koerner's vending-specific episodes focus on ice, water, perfume, and novelty machines, while MFM's 2022 episode only includes smart vending among several online and community ideas.
- The perfume-machine videos give precise unit economics, while the ice and water episode mentions costs, margins, maintenance, and locations without numbers in the synopsis.
- The Instagram-ideas episode treats live fish vending as a viral concept, not a full operating plan.
- The AI-tools episode is only tangentially relevant through sales and analysis workflows, not vending operations.
- Some concepts are semi-passive phone-monitored businesses; others require physical location selling and product-specific maintenance.
What each source says
MFMBest Businesses To Start In 2022: Vending Machines, B2B Newsletters, Virtual Study Rooms & More
Sam and Shaan include Aunt Flow and smart vending machines among broader 2022 business ideas, alongside virtual study halls and communities.
Watch on YouTubeKoernerMy 5 Favorite AI Tools in 2026
Chris and Nik compare AI tools and sales use cases, offering only a tangential automation angle for vending or location sales.
Watch on YouTubeKoernerForget Snack Machines. This One Refills Itself
CJ Lovas runs four ice and water vending locations with no full-time employees and monitors much of the business from his phone.
Watch on YouTubeKoernerPerfume Vending Machine Business: The Next Big Thing?
The perfume vending discussion cites $700-$3,000 net profit per month on roughly $3,250 machines with a 1-4 month payback.
Watch on YouTubeKoernerPerfume Vending Machine Webinar Recording
The perfume vending webinar repeats the $3,250 unit price, $700-$3,000 monthly net profit, 1-4 month payback, 5+ unit discounts, and operational topics.
Watch on YouTubeKoernerThe 5 Most Genius Business Ideas I Saw on Instagram
Chris and Nik's Instagram segment includes live fish vending as a viral novelty idea rather than a detailed vending playbook.
Watch on YouTubeTools people use for this
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