As this very unconventional year is coming to the end, it's just about time to think through what we have learned along the way. At the Jar - Healthy Vending we always try to stay grateful even in the moments of hardest challenges although this year did try hard to break even the strongest of us. Today sharing with you, as the trendy buzzwords dictionary would suggest, “2020 insights”.
Coke is money
Fighting the demons we should have probably long time accepted instead we found how not ready most of the people are to accept the idea of healthy vending. As an experiment and on a customer demand we have substituted some of our nutritious beverages with simple coke in one of our machines . Results? Sales of beverages more than doubled.
But this insight is more than just about money. We have always been in denial of such ‘unhealthy’ requests but this time we have decided to give it a try. We were so sure that if our consumers chose us for supporting a healthy lifestyle they would never even buy coke from our vending machines despite the availability. Well, we’ve already told the results…
This experiment taught us to value our customers even more. We know we have built our healthy vending company to bring easily accessible healthy options to people in London. What we have also learned now is that we should give people their chance to decide for themselves and, instead of pushing for the healthier options, just nudging them towards the better decisions. Nevertheless, do not forget to check out our article on our coke digest and don’t be afraid if you feel nudged after it;)
Doing sports at home is possible
Might not be a discovery for many but our team members have always been adherents of only live sport activities. Be it gym, yoga studio or Barry’s bootcamp we could have never imagined it would be all gone or transferred online. Surprisingly, we managed to adopt quite easily and started to practice virtually through apps and Zoom sessions.
We have all now discovered how beneficial it can be to one’s schedule. No need for getting to the location, ability to take a nap straight after :D and simply saving so much time while getting the same value for your body. We even organised private yoga sessions online with some of our members to keep us connected! Hard to accept but this definitely showed us again how easy it is to get trapped in the idea of a comfort zone when other solutions can actually be so much more convenient.
Family and friends are our two main treasures
Yes, we did all know and we have always been told so. But have we really ever understood this? With borders closed and inability to travel to your loved ones you start valuing every moment you spend together. We were lucky to have each other through this year and even being able to meet in February as a whole team before it all started.
We have all noticed how more caring we became and how hard it would be to go through it without knowing that we are not in this alone. We’ve tried to cheer each other up every day by forwarding memes, sending presents from time to time and simply messaging without a reason to check how others are doing. Without this year we might have realised how hard it is to find friends that stay with you no matter what. Hope we can finally get together in 2021 and to toast for that!
Joy is the process not the result
When life slows down from 100 to nearly 0, you might find yourself first in a state where you do not know how to live without a buzz and busyness. You keep thinking of the ‘when it’s all over, I will do it…’. But this year finally brought us a real peace of mindfulness we all talk about.
We tend to think that everything depends on us but reality shows not always. Finding yourself in the position where you are no longer able to predict the outcomes, you start enjoying the moment and appreciating the process. Life starts to fill with energy from inside of you instead of being continuously stimulated from externalities. We have all learned it the hard way this time but we will forever be grateful for this opportunity to spend more time on our own and learn about ourselves.
We can go on and on with all the insights of 2020 but lets us hear you instead. Tell us what were your greatest discoveries this year which would never happen if it all was different?
Always yours,
Your The Jar - Healthy Vending Team