There is a generation entering its peak consumption years that has never written a check, rarely carried cash, and finds a staffed checkout line a slower and more friction-filled experience than doing it themselves. Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, is the first generation to grow up entirely inside the digital world. Their retail expectations were formed by one-tap app purchases, contactless payment, and on-demand delivery. When they walk into a physical space and want
something, they expect the transaction to be just as fast, just as frictionless, and just as self- directed.

Unattended retail (smart coolers and self-service micro-markets) is the format built for exactly that expectation. This piece looks at who this consumer is, how large they're becoming, what they want from a transaction, what they want to eat, and why the traditional vending machine fails them on almost every count.

A Consumer Force That Is Still Growing Into Its Power 

The scale of what's coming is easy to underestimate. Gen Z is the largest generation in history, making up 25% of the global population, with spending power projected to reach $12 trillion by 2030, according to NielsenIQ and World Data Lab. That number isn't just large in absolute terms. It represents a structural shift in who controls consumer markets. Gen Z's share of U.S. consumer spending has already more than doubled, from 2.6% in 2020 to 6.1% in 2025, while
Millennials now account for 26.1%, more than one in four spending dollars, according to Numerator.

Together, Gen Z and Millennials already represent nearly a third of U.S. consumer spending and are on a trajectory to dominate it within a decade. The operators, retailers, and format designers who are still optimizing for Boomer and Gen X preferences are building for a  consumer base that is shrinking. The ones optimizing for Gen Z and Millennials are building for the consumer base that is growing. There is a second, quieter growth vector. These consumers do not just age into more spending power. They pull their households with them, nudging parents and older relatives toward the same fresh, self-directed, cashless habits. The preference is spreading faster than the cohort alone.

What makes this generational shift commercially significant for unattended retail specifically is not just the size of the opportunity. It's the fit. The transaction format, the product preferences, and the expectations these consumers carry into every purchase environment align more closely with smart coolers and self-service micro-markets than with any other retail format in the category. 

How They Transact: Speed, Self-Service, and No Cash

The behavioral data on how Gen Z and Millennials prefer to transact is consistent across every survey that has looked at it. 63% of Gen Z shoppers prefer self-checkout, compared to 45% of Millennials and significantly lower rates among older generations, according to NCR Voyix's 2025 Commerce Experience Report. The primary reason is speed: 77% of all shoppers who prefer self-checkout cite faster service as the deciding factor. For Gen Z specifically, speed is not a nice-to-have. It is the deciding factor in whether a transaction happens at all. A third of Gen Z shoppers describe self-checkout as a must-have part of the modern shopping experience, compared to just 16% of Gen X shoppers, according to a Creative Realities survey. That gap, roughly double the rate of must-have preference between the two generations, reflects something deeper than convenience. For Gen Z, self-service is not a substitute for staffed checkout. It is the preferred mode of interaction. A staffed counter requires social engagement, waiting for someone else's pace, and a transaction sequence the customer doesn't control. A self-service format gives them speed, autonomy, and accuracy: the three things they most consistently demand. The payment dimension reinforces this. 96% of micro-market payments are already cashless, and cashless vending payments average 55% higher in transaction value than cash payments, according to PYMNTS data. Cashless payment is the default mode for Gen Z and Millennials across every context.

The behavioral pattern that emerges across all of this data is consistent: Gen Z and Millennials want to open, take, pay, and go. They want no queue, no counter, no friction, and no waiting for someone else. The smart cooler (tap to open, take what you want, door closes, payment captured) is a perfect match for that expectation.

What They Eat: Fresh, Natural, High-Protein, and On the Go

The transaction preference is only half the story. The other half is what Gen Z and Millennials actually want to buy, and here the mismatch with traditional vending is even starker. When asked to define healthy food, Gen Z's top responses are all natural (26%), fresh (26%), and a good source of protein (25%), according to Attest research conducted in September 2024 with U.S.-based Gen Z consumers aged 18 to 27. They directly describe the product categories that a refrigerated smart cooler can carry and a traditional coil vending machine cannot. A yogurt, a cold-pressed juice, a protein bar, a fresh salad, a hard-boiled egg pack: these are the SKUs this consumer is looking for, and they are the SKUs that require refrigeration, careful inventory management, and a format capable of handling fresh and perishable products. Two thirds of Gen Z follow a specific dietary pattern, a higher rate than any other generation, according to the International Food Information Council's Food and Health Survey 2024. This is a generation that reads ingredient labels, tracks macros, and has strong and specific views about what they will and won't put in their bodies. They are not browsing a vending machine for whatever is available. They are looking for specific product attributes, and if the format doesn't carry them, they leave.

The commercial signal from the food industry confirms the direction: animal protein sales are up 12.6% and plant protein up 11.3% as functional food ingredients, driven primarily by younger buyers seeking convenient, satiating options, according to SPINS data from 2025. Categories like yogurt, eggs, jerky, and ready-to-eat protein packs are specifically called out as high-growth segments pulled by Gen Z and Millennial demand. These are refrigerated, fresh, and perishable, and they are exactly the assortment a smart cooler is designed to carry. Gen Z is more likely than older generations to opt for food they can enjoy on the go, as long as
that food is healthy, locally sourced where possible, and available on demand, according to Toast's consumer research. The phrase that recurs across every data point is convenience without compromise. This consumer will not trade health for speed. They want both simultaneously, in the same transaction, from the same format. And their influence does not stop at their own purchases. Gen Z and Millennials increasingly shape how their households eat, pulling parents and older relatives toward fresher, cleaner, more protein-forward choices. So the consumer this format serves is not a fixed young cohort. It is a base that keeps widening as these expectations spread upward through the family. That combination (fast, fresh, self-service, cashless) describes a smart cooler.

The Format Gap: Why Traditional Vending Fails This Consumer

Traditional vending was designed for a different generation with different expectations. The coil mechanism was built for shelf-stable packaged snacks and carbonated drinks. The coin-and- button interaction model was designed before contactless payment existed. The product mix (chips, chocolate bars, carbonated beverages) reflects the preferences of a consumer cohort that is aging out of peak consumption. The smart cooler provides fresh and refrigerated SKUs to match what Gen Z wants to eat. Tap- to-pay entry matches how they want to transact. Open-door browsing (seeing and selecting from a real shelf rather than pressing a number and waiting for a coil to turn) matches how they want to shop. And the speed of the transaction, under thirty seconds from tap to walk-away,
matches the time budget they are willing to allocate. 

What Operators Need to Do to Get Their Machines to Sell 

The commercial implication for operators deploying unattended retail is straightforward, but not simple to execute. Get the assortment right for this consumer. A smart cooler stocked with the same product mix as a traditional vending machine is a better format delivering a narrower promise. Gen Z and Millennial consumers still buy chips and chocolate, but they expect more sitting next to them: fresh, protein-forward, natural, and minimally processed options they can actually build a
routine around. A cooler that offers only shelf-stable snacks captures the impulse buy and misses the repeat one. The assortment needs to carry both, the familiar snack and the fresh, functional SKUs this consumer increasingly reaches for: yogurt, fresh fruit, cold-pressed juice, hard-boiled eggs, fresh sandwiches on clean-ingredient bread. Those are the SKUs that turn an occasional user into a regular. 

Place units where this consumer already is. Gen Z and Millennials over-index in gyms, co- working spaces, university campuses, transit hubs, and select-service hotels, exactly the environments where unattended retail has the strongest commercial case and staffed F&B is most constrained. A smart cooler placed at the exit of a gym, in a university library at midnight, or in the corridor of a Moxy or citizenM property is in the path of the consumer most likely to use
it, with the product mix most likely to convert.

Invest in accuracy and uptime. Gen Z consumers are notably price-conscious alongside their health preferences, with taste and cost identified as the biggest motivators in their food choices, according to Attest research. A wrong charge or a failed transaction doesn't just lose a sale. It damages the repeat purchase relationship with a consumer who has plenty of alternatives and no patience for operational failures. Machine reliability is a retention issue, not just an operational one.
The Bigger Picture

This is a demographic handover, and it is already underway. The consumers who prefer self-

service, who expect fresh and healthy options, who pay by tapping their phone before reaching for a wallet, and who read a staffed checkout as slower and more awkward than doing it themselves are not a niche segment. They are the incoming majority, and their spending power The unattended retail operators who align their format, assortment, and technology choices to this consumer now are capturing today's transaction. They are building the infrastructure for the
dominant retail relationship of the next decade. The coil vending machine had its generation. The smart cooler has this one.

But a smart cooler is only as good as what sits inside it the moment a customer opens the door. And this customer does not wait. A Gen Z shopper who reaches for the protein yogurt, the cold brew, or the fresh salad they came for and finds an empty shelf does not settle for a candy bar. They close the door and leave, and they remember. A hero SKU out of stock is not a small miss. It is a lost sale and a lost repeat customer, in a single move. This is exactly the problem WeightAI was built to solve, and it is why the machine and the software have to work as one system. SHEKEL's management console reads the shelf live, in real time, rather than on a telemetry estimate that lags hours behind what is actually on the shelf. It knows precisely what is on every shelf right now, what is selling fastest, and what is
about to run out. So the operator stops guessing and starts stocking to reality: more of what sells, replenished before it empties, and the fresh, high-value SKUs this customer wants always in place when they open the door.

That is the difference between a cooler that quietly leaks sales and one that makes money. Weight verification captures 100% of payments, so every basket is charged and shrinkage disappears. The live console keeps the right product in front of the right customer, so the impatient Gen Z shopper finds what they came for and comes back. Same footprint, more revenue, fewer walkaways, and the fresh SKUs that drive this business always on the shelf. The coil vending machine had its generation. The smart cooler has this one, but only for the operators who run it on live intelligence instead of guesswork. That is what SHEKEL Innovendi delivers: a WeightAI console that turns a smart cooler from a box on the wall into a machine that knows what to sell, keeps itself stocked, and earns on every open door.

FAQ

Why does Gen Z prefer self-service retail?
Speed and autonomy are the primary drivers. 77% of shoppers who prefer self-checkout cite
faster service as the main reason, and 63% of Gen Z specifically prefer self-checkout over
staffed alternatives, according to NCR Voyix's 2025 Commerce Experience Report (U.S. data).
For Gen Z, a staffed checkout introduces waiting, social interaction, and a transaction sequence
they don't control, all of which they find slower and less preferable than doing it themselves.
What food does Gen Z actually want from a vending or smart cooler format?
Gen Z's top definitions of healthy food are all natural, fresh, and a good source of protein, each
cited by approximately a quarter of respondents in Attest's 2024 research. They are looking for
refrigerated, minimally processed, protein-forward options: yogurt, fresh fruit, protein bars, cold-

pressed juice, ready-to-eat protein packs. These are categories that require refrigeration and
fresh inventory management. A smart cooler can carry them, a traditional coil vending machine
cannot.
How large is Gen Z's spending power?
Gen Z's spending power is projected to reach $12 trillion by 2030, according to NielsenIQ and
World Data Lab (directional). Their share of U.S. consumer spending has already more than
doubled since 2020, reaching 6.1% in 2025, while Millennials account for a further 26.1%,
together representing nearly a third of all U.S. consumer spending, according to Numerator.
Why does traditional vending fail Gen Z?
On three dimensions simultaneously: the product mix (shelf-stable snacks and carbonated
drinks don't match fresh, protein, and natural preferences), the payment model (coin and button
interfaces don't match cashless tap-to-pay expectations), and the transaction experience (slow,
single-item, opaque delivery doesn't match the speed and browsing experience this consumer
expects).
Are Gen Z consumers privacy-conscious about retail technology?
Yes, particularly in European markets. Gen Z is the generation most likely to read ingredient
labels, check certifications, and pay attention to what data is being collected about them. In
unattended retail, this is one reason camera-free recognition systems, which capture no visual
or biometric data, align well with Gen Z expectations, especially in European markets where
GDPR adds a regulatory dimension to that preference.
What assortment performs best in smart coolers targeting Gen Z and Millennials?
Fresh, refrigerated, and protein-forward. Yogurt, cold-pressed juice, hard-boiled eggs, protein
bars, fresh sandwiches on clean-ingredient bread, functional beverages. Operators who carry
the same product mix as a traditional vending machine in a smart cooler format will not unlock
the revenue upside this consumer represents. The format upgrade and the assortment upgrade
need to happen together.