Vending machine systems using standard inventory control system components

A method comprising:

• transmitting vending machine data uploaded to management technology using standard vending machine protocol,
• the vending machine data including inventory data listing products stocked in or sold by a vending machine, and at least one of inventory level information indicating an amount of the products listed in the inventory data, or fund data indicating an amount of funds received by the vending machine,
• the vending machine data being transmitted for storage in an inventory database with machine data from other vending machines to permit the management technology to perform one or more management operations for the respective vending machines using the vending machine data, the one or more management operations including at least one of determining vending machine routing needs, determining profitability, managing cash flow or managing inventory, and
• the management technology being configured to transmit inventory data from the inventory database to a separate promotion server, and in response thereto, receive one or more promotions applicable to one or more products listed in the inventory data;
• receiving the promotions from the management technology in a communication separate from the upload of the vending machine data;
• and
• directing a user interface of the vending machine to display one or more of the promotions to a user at the vending machine, the vending machine data being transmitted to the management technology, and the promotions being received from the management technology, before and independent of the one or more of the promotions being displayed to the user,
• wherein the transmitting, receiving and directing are performed by an apparatus associated with the vending machine, and comprising a processor and a memory storing executable instructions that in response to execution by the processor cause the apparatus to perform the transmitting, receiving and directing.