Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

Between the time when a typical quick service restaurant sells a customer a drink and that customer goes to a self-serve drink station and gets their drink, it's typical for consumers to change their minds. The restaurant doesn't care as it typically sells all drinks for the same price. But Coca-Cola certainly cares and it's opted to try and do something about it, crafting a machine that offers more than 100 varieties of sodas, juices, teas, and flavored waters and reports to the mothership with every selection.

The move has huge potential mostly because, from the consumer's perspective, it's so non-interruptive. Consumers are already in the habit of using self-service beverage machines at fast-food facilities, so it should encounter almost no resistance. All that will be visibly different is a much greater amount of beverage choice. As long as the machine's interface is clean, that shouldn't be a problem. But if the options look—even at a glance—overly complicated or time-consuming, things could turn ugly quickly.

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