A 25 per cent drop in consumption, coupled with a 45 per cent decline in sales of Italian-made vending machines, compared with 2019. Added to these figures are the challenges posed by public concessions, which have become increasingly onerous, with the majority of tenders failing to update their estimates on consumption trends. This is the picture that emerges from the 15th edition of the sector’s General Assembly, organised by Confida, the Italian automatic distribution association, in Rome at Confcommercio (retailers' association). The sector comprises over 3,000 operating companies and employs more than 33,000 people in related industries, and it is grappling with inflation, the rise of remote working and the decline in industrial production, given that 37 per cent of vending machine consumption takes place in the manufacturing sector. In detail, Italian vending has fallen from 4.9 billion transactions in 2019 to 3.7 billion in 2025, representing a confirmed decline of 24.9 per cent, which worsened slightly in the first eight months of 2026. Between January and June of this year, in fact – and despite there being two extra working days – 2.378 billion transactions were recorded (-0.5% compared with the same period in 2025). The number of active vending machines in Italy also fell by 2.7% over the same period, dropping from 757,000 to 737,000 units.
Another sore point has been public concessions, which account for 18 per cent of the sector’s turnover but are becoming increasingly uneconomical. To install a vending machine in the public administration, a company must enter a tender, secure a concession and pay a fee to the relevant authority. However, concession fees have risen exponentially over the years, evolving from a sort of reimbursement for the use of water and electricity into significant charges. All this whilst consumption has fallen and tenders are often lacking in due diligence. According to the results of an ADRfirm study for Confida presented at the General Assembly, out of a sample of 153 public tenders issued between 2023 and 2026, only 9.2 per cent adjust the concession value to reflect changes in consumption and user numbers, thus failing to take into account the growing impact of remote working and the shift in food offerings brought about by the introduction of CAMs (minimum environmental criteria). Another critical issue that emerged in the public tenders analysed is the complete lack of incentives for technological investment in the machines. Only 3.9 per cent of these tenders have a duration of more than five years, whilst the average payback period for new vending machines is seven years. In 56.2 per cent of cases, there is no risk matrix setting out the risks borne by the tenderer, whilst 68.8 per cent of the tenders do not even include a business plan. In light of the research findings, Massimo Trapletti, president of Confida, is calling for “discussions with the ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and Anac (National Anti-Corruption Authority) to improve the quality of tenders and introduce measures capable of safeguarding the economic and financial balance of the concessions that govern our activities within public administrations”.
However, in addition to consumer spending, the crisis is also affecting the Italian-made goods vending machine industry, which has seen a 45 per cent drop in sales compared with 2019, partly due to competition from Asia. Sales have fallen from 49,802 new vending machines sold in Italy in 2019 to 27,453 in 2025. This figure is even more alarming when one considers that 70 per cent of production is exported. Thus, the weakness of the domestic market is compounded by strong pressure from Asian manufacturers, who in some cases offer products at prices 30 per cent lower than those of Italian manufacturers. This price reduction is often achieved by failing to comply with EU regulations on energy efficiency, refrigerant gases, CE marking and industrial property rights.
“We are not asking for markets to be closed off, but for genuinely fair competitive conditions, with effective checks on products entering Europe,” Trapletti added, explaining that “it is absurd that when an Italian entrepreneur wishes to export their machinery abroad, they are subject to rigorous technical checks on the machinery, whilst for a non-European entrepreneur, self-certification is sufficient”. In this situation, Confida proposes a solution to try to save our industry – and European industry – from Asian competition. “We are calling,” Trapletti concluded, “for the CE marking, which is currently a self-certification, to become a certification involving genuine laboratory tests carried out by an independent external body. We also believe it is necessary to make it economically viable to bring production and the procurement of components back to Europe by introducing a European industrial rebalancing grant, proportionate to the value of components imported from non-EU countries and fitted into equipment sold in Europe, and by allocating these resources to a fund to reduce labour costs, support innovation and investment, and rebuild the European industrial supply chains that have been phased out.”