Despite Japan's reputation as a vending machine heaven, inflation has driven some companies that sell canned and bottled drinks to pull out
By MASAKI HASHIDA/ Staff Writer
April 6, 2026 at 18:19 JST
Despite Japan's reputation as a vending machine heaven, inflation has driven some companies that sell canned and bottled drinks to pull out of the industry or drastically reduce the number of machines they operate.
The recent surge in consumer prices has made vending machine beverages relatively more costly than those sold at supermarkets or even drugstores.
The rise in overall prices also means maintaining machines is now more expensive, not to mention the chronic worker shortage that makes upkeep difficult compared to when they were on seemingly every neighborhood corner.
In March, Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage Ltd., headquartered in Nagoya, announced that it was selling its vending machine operation to Osaka-based Lifedrink Co.
About 40,000 machines will be handed over to Lifedrink in October.
“We have to think about where to shift our resources and we decided to concentrate on lemon drinks, tea and carbonated beverages rather than provide a wide range of products,” said Pokka Sapporo President Masashi Sato.
That same month, DyDo Group Holdings Inc. of Osaka announced that it would remove about 20,000 unprofitable machines by January 2027. It currently has about 270,000 running nationwide.
A company official said reducing the number of machines would be one step toward stopping the flow of red ink.
In its fiscal year ending in December 2025, Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Holdings Inc. posted 90.4 billion yen ($566 million) in an impairment loss, mainly concerning its vending machine operations.
The tea drink company Ito En Ltd. also reported 13.7 billion yen in an impairment loss for its vending machine operations in the May 2025 to January period. Operations will be transferred to a subsidiary in the future.
According to DyDo officials, the domestic market is about 1 trillion yen, or about 20 percent of the total beverage industry.
Machines were a major profit generator at one point because companies could sell beverages close to their suggested retail price.
But the long period of higher consumer prices has meant that last autumn a 500-milliliter drink in a plastic bottle from a major brandhad a suggested retail price of 200 yen, excluding tax.
Convenience stores and supermarkets now provide privately branded drinks at discounted prices. Drugstores can also offer lower prices because they buy in bulk from wholesalers.
An industry source said lower prices were set for beverages to draw in customers. Because such outlets have a wide range of products, drink prices can be set lower but still allow companies to turn a profit.
Eco-conscious consumers who carry around their own bottles also tend to stay away from vending machines.
According to Inryo Soken, a research institute dedicated to the beverage industry, there was a 20 percent reduction in the number of vending machines selling drinks from 2.47 million in 2014 to 1.95 million in 2025.
SNACKS AND BENTO
Even as drink machines suffer from flat sales, there has been an increase in ones offering light snacks and even bento.
These machines also eliminate the need for sales clerks.
Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd.'s BossMart machine is installed at other companies' offices to sell snacks, such as candy, bread and cup noodles. About 20,000 of them have popped up at workplaces since April 2020, with a renewal rate of 99 percent.
In the public sphere, JR East Cross Station Co. installed its first refrigerated vending machine for “ekiben,” boxed lunches sold at train stations, inside the ticket gates of JR Odawara Station in Kanagawa Prefecture on March 26.
“The vending machine market has reached saturation because of the declining population. It is also difficult to cut fixed costs, such as for maintenance," an industry source said. "There will likely be a move to remove unprofitable equipment and seek out locations where greater profits can be earned.”
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