Category Management in Vending

Category management is a merchandising system that can maximize product sales from your Planet Antares vending machines. It will increase your sales and profits by providing the customers of your vending machines with the products that they want, when they want them. In other words, it will help you have top selling products in your vending machine every day.

Category management is easy to implement, however it requires changes in your merchandising system and an organizational commitment to make it work. It increases your bottom line by increasing sales from better merchandising. At the same time it also helps you to meet more consumer demand.

Category management in your Planet Antares vending business will reduce the inventory and handling costs of additional, unnecessary SKU’s. As a result of this, the purchasing efficiency will increase dramatically. There will also be an improvement in route and warehouse efficiency. You will find that route merchandising and product selection is simpler and more efficient. Fewer SKU’s and lower inventory levels result in substantial reduction in ware house labor.

The evolution of category management in vending is one of the most important changes taking place. The vending industry is following a pattern that has been set by supermarkets, drug stores and convenience stores. Category management system has emerged as a standard operating procedure. There are a number of benefits that come with category management, the most important being that it gives creative power to the vending operator.

Once category management becomes a standard practice in your Planet Antares vending business, the relationship between product manufacturers and operators will be very different. Vending operators armed with marketing data will commit to larger volumes of the selling items. In return they will expect suppliers to provide better prices and more merchandising support.

With this system in your Planet Antares vending business, operators will take a lead role in a proactive rather than reactive role in marketing and merchandising. They will set goals for the product suppliers to meet, rather than the other way round.

As technology gives operators better reporting tools, we can expect to see new applications beyond the traditional venues. We can also expect that applications will be found beyond the traditional snacks, food and beverages.

Most industry veterans will agree that automatic merchandising is growing beyond its traditional role. Technology in the vending industry is causing things to change faster than they have in the past.

Finding the Best Location for Your Vending Business

Finding the Best Location for Your Vending Business

The three most important things for the success of a vending business are location, location and location. Finding a location for your Planet Antares vending machines will not always be easy. These are snack and beverage vending machines that suitable for high traffic locations. These are the kind of location that will be financially beneficial for your vending business. On an average, it takes about 300 calls to businesses to find a qualified snack and beverage vending machine location.

It is always recommended that you look for a location on your own since you are the one that knows what you are looking for. If you don’t have the time to look for a location on your own, you can use a locating service to do the work for you, just make sure that you inspect the locations on your own, after the locator has found a suitable one. You should be able to tell a good location just by looking at it. There are a few factors that you need to take into consideration when you are looking for the best kind of location for your Planet Antares vending machines. For example, locations where people stay for extended periods of time are ideal locations because when someone is sitting and waiting at a location, it will increase the chances of the person noticing your vending machine. Sales can only be made from vending machines that are noticeable.

When it comes to snack and beverage vending machines like those provided by Planet Antares, the age group of the location that you are catering to really matters. A location that has younger people will be a good place to sell your snacks and beverages. The young generation love snacking more than any other group. In addition to this, they always carry a lot a change with them around. This means that so long as there is a large crowd of young people in the location where you’re vending are placed, you can be assured of sales.

If you see a location that you are not sure about, don’t pass up on it just because you don’t think that it will be a profitable location. Place your Planet Antares vending machines in that location just to see how things go. The location may end up surprising you.

A locating service usually makes calls to all potential locations when they are looking for a suitable location. If you are using a locating service, they would make a call to a potential location where they will make a telephonic presentation of your vending machine. They can even decide to fax pictures of the vending machines, as well as describe the type of snacks that the vending machine sells. If there is a location owner that is interested in having your vending machine there, an appointment should then be set by the locator, for you to inspect the location. Make sure that you have determined that it is the best kind of location before choosing it.

Vending Branded Products

When it comes to snack and beverage vending machines, having the right products in a vending machine will play a very important role in the success of your vending business. Branded products always manage to sell themselves. Take a survey of what products are popular in vending machines, so that you can end up only placing the right products in your Planet Antares vending machines. This is information that you can get from moving from location to location and watching what people buy from the vending machines that are there. Asking kids questions about which products to place in the vending machines will also help you to know which products are popular.

Having branded items in your Planet Antares vending machines will save you all the trouble of advertising the products. Branded items are already popular with the public and of course they are always being advertised on the media. When you have these kinds of products in your vending machines, they just literally sell themselves. Planet Antares vending machines are glass front vending machines, so that means that when you have branded items in the front of the vending machine, it will draw people to the machine.

Retail competitors, such as c-stores and supermarkets have long been marketing their branded products. They are way ahead of the vending industry when it comes to that. This is something that the vending industry can learn from the retail industry.

Planet Antares vending machines sell items such as sodas, juices and all types of snacks. These are products that should always be branded. For example Coke and Pepsi are branded beverages. When you place them in your vending machine, they will definitely be bought, since they are the most popular beverages that we have. They have been around for a very long time and they are always being advertised on TV, radio, signboards and other forms of media. This is why you will not have any trouble selling these brands in your vending machine. All you have to do is place the machine in a strategic vending location, then let the branded products sell for themselves.

You can have all types of products in your vending machines, but always keep in mind that brand always sells, so make sure that you keep the branded products as well. Trying out new products in your vending machines is another great way of boosting sales. Keep a variety of products in your vending machine. Make sure that you have branded products as well as regular products. You never know which product can become popular with the public. This is something that you can find this out by placing new products in the vending machines. Keep in mind that you should only keep products that are quick sellers in your vending machine.

Benefits of Cashless Payment Options

If you have the proper hardware and/or software equipment, your Planet Antares snack and beverage vending machines can be equipped to support cashless payment options. There are three cashless payment options that can be used in vending machines.There are quite a number of benefits that will come with a cashless payment option in your Planet Antares vending machines. These benefits include:

Improved reliability The problems that most people face with vending machines are coin jams or incorrect change. When this occurs with vending machines, it leads to the customer facing frustrations. With a cashless payment option system in your Planet Antares vending machine, you will not have to worry about customers facing such inconveniences.

Reduces administration costs Since there is no handling of cash with a cashless payment option, administration costs are reduced and there is also an improvement in staff safety.

A faster method of payment A cashless payment option in your Planet Antares vending business will mean that the payments will be made faster. There will no longer be long queues at your vending machines since the queue will move much faster. All that a customer has to do is place a card in the vending machine, and wait for the product. This takes a few seconds. If the customer has to insert coins, it means that first the customer will have to look for the coins, insert them, and then wait for change if it is expected. This is what usually causes long queues at vending machines.

Comprehensive financial control With this system in your Planet Antares vending machines, it means that all your accounting trails will be well documented. All accounting information will be accurately recorded. With accurate accounting of the details, you will get to know how your products are selling and which ones are selling faster. In other words you will have control over vending business’ financial details.

Accommodation of additional applications A cashless payment option can accommodate additional applications for access control, time and attendance. This of course will result in your vending business, operating smoothly. The sales in your vending business will increase by a significant percentage as soon as you have placed the system in your vending machines.

All in all, having a cashless payment option will lead to increased vending sales which will of course mean improved profitability. Increased sales would come about as a result of customer satisfaction. Customers will be happier using a cashless system than the traditional system.

The Market Place for Vending

The vending industry has changed a great deal over the years. The market place for vending is experiencing more change than others. Today’s economic conditions and fierce competition have resulted in an environment that is markedly different from that experienced in past decades.

With the changes that are taking place, you will need to align your Planet Antares vending business with the changes that are taking place. This can be done with the help of the Planet Antares vending program, which can provide you with some strategies to use. For your vending business to continue thriving, you will have to make money at smaller accounts, achieve higher per capita sales, open new markets, introduce new products, utilize technology, sell new locations, and most important of all, you must tenaciously hold on to your existing business. At the same time as, you must operate as efficiently as you possibly can and become absolutely relentless in smoking out waste and inefficiency.

The demise of any business is an insidious process; it may seem you’re just in a slump or just going through a streak of temporary bad luck. However, when this condition continues unchecked, it will affect your vending business. There are a number of changes that are taking place in the industry and you have to find strategies of coping with these changes. To cope with some of these changes, you can choose to invest in certain technologies.

Future challenges for your Planet Antares vending business cannot be addressed without discussing profit drains. These days, theft and fraud know no bounds. If you think your business is immune, think again. No vending business can afford to operate today without strong controls and preventative measures in place. Smaller businesses are more vulnerable because they typically lack the secondary controls and procedures that are in place in large corporations.

Software can give you the ability to have more control over route and warehouse inventory in your Planet Antares vending business than ever before. This of course would make your vending business more profitable. The market place will only continue to change over the years to come, so you need to be prepared for changes that can take place.

Remaining Profitable in a Changing Vending Industry

The general economy has experienced a good degree of growth, but the vending industry is not exactly sharing in its prosperity. This is due to work site downsizing, creation of smaller work sites and increased competition from other vending operators.
Remaining profitable in the vending industry will not be difficult if you use a vending program, like the one provided by Planet Antares. This vending program can show you how you can remain profitable by using some of the strategies below.Raising product prices
Before you raise prices in your Planet Antares vending business, you should consider other options such as removing unprofitable vending machines, charging vending machine rental fees, reducing the level of service or lengthening service intervals to vending machines. If you need to increase prices of the snacks and beverages in your Planet Antares vending business, you can just go ahead and do that. It might be met with a little resistance at first but consumers today recognize that retail prices are increasing so they will eventually understand the price hike. When you are increasing the prices, you can offer incentives such as price reduction on less popular products. Another technique that you can use is trade-up snack marketing, where large-size vending machine products are sold in order to increase consumer value.

Cut commissions
Cutting down on the commission that is paid to locations is the easiest change that will have the least impact on vending machine consumers. This is a strategy that you can use instead of increasing prices in your Planet Antares vending business. Nevertheless, you can offer profit saving concession to the location owners. You just need to decide on the type of concessions to offer.

Partner with location owners
Sharing accurate financial information with the location owner will make the location owner more willing to cooperate with your changing needs as a vending operator. Accurate accounting is critical in determining the profitability of an account and making adjustments to vending machine products and prices.

Technology
Incorporating new technology in your Planet Antares vending business will result in improved efficiency and profitability. Vending machine software is capable of analyzing vending machine sales by location, machine and line item. This will help you to determine which products to sell. Other technologies that can be used are alternative payment options.