Tips For Effective Stocking Of Planet Antares Vending Machines

When you start a vending business, you will get many kinds of suggestions regarding the various aspects of this business. While some people may emphasize the quality of vending equipment, others may tell you to focus on location.

In reality, both factors are equally important. However, what needs to be understood and carefully analyzed is the product to be sold through your vending machines. Unfortunately, most people make the mistake of treating this as a secondary decision to be taken after purchase of vending machines and deciding about the potential locations.

Your Planet Antares vending machines are usually stocked with soda and snacks items. Customers will not return to your vending machines if the products are not fresh or of satisfactory quality. Most vending machines offer soft drinks and snacks including fried items as well as low calorie, healthier options. Make sure that at least one product is a healthy item offered along with the traditional products. This allows different customer requirements to be satisfied from a single machine.

Just offering a drink will not be enough to provide thirst solutions for customers. If they don’t like the kind of drinks being offered, they may walk away without making any purchases. What you offer through your vending machines depends on the location and target customers. For example, soda vending machines are suitable for school and college campus while water, tea and coffee vending machines are best suited for offices with large number of employees.

Snack vending machines allow you to sell a large variety of products. You must buy a vending machine after checking the capacity to hold a collection of snacks, both traditional and new. While some customers require healthy food items, others look for sweet or fried snacks.

Again, the location of your vending machines will have an impact on the kind of products offered to customers. You must stock such items that appeal to the taste and preference of target audience. For example, healthy foods will not sell well in schools. It will be better in hotels and airports or business offices.

One of the most popular vending machine products are the candy bars that appeal to customers of all age groups, tastes and locations. To begin with, it will be a good idea to setup a bulk vending machine business. Make sure that you provide adequate variety to attract maximum number of customers.

A successful vending business is one that offers the right products to meet the customer needs. The more your product sales, higher will be the revenue generated for your business. Keep monitoring the sales pattern of different products being stocked to replace the slow moving ones.

Credit Cards And Vending Machines

According to recent studies, cashless vending machines are the next big thing in the vending machine industry. Customers will be able to pay conveniently for various kinds of products. The vending machine operators will also be benefited by the same. As more and more people use your vending machines, there is potential for higher sales and more profits for your vending business.

The basic concept of cashless vending machines involves the use of credit or debit cards for paying for desired products. The customer inserts the credit card into the vending machine and in return, the products are dispensed. There is no cash transaction involved in this process.

The purpose of introducing vending machines with cashless technology can be classified as follows:
• To widen the spectrum of the credit card industry
• To make vending even more convenient for customers

Credit card companies can greatly benefit from this change in the vending industry. It is an opportunity for them to promote and encourage the usage of credit cards among people who may not be using these already.

For customers, there is even more convenience as there is a new way of getting various products. When you use a vending machine that allows cashless payment for vending products, there is no need to look for change or carry coins. Such traditional currency may get stuck in the vending machine or there may be problems while returning change. Credit card payment system will help you prevent the occurrence of such a situation.

Research studies indicate that the introduction of cashless vending techniques will lead to a rise in vending sales by about 50%. This means more purchases of various vending products, higher sales for vending operators and overall, boom in the already expanding vending industry.

Apart from accepting credit cards, vending machines will also offer a diverse variety of products and new items that are expected to be bigger, higher quality and more expensive than the snack and soda items. As customers are able to pay higher amounts in a single credit card transaction, you will be able to charge higher price on vending products and earn more returns per vend.

Look for appropriate locations for placing your vending machines after selecting reliable equipment like Planet Antares vending machines. If you place cashless vending machines in schools, there may hardly be any customers for it. Airports, hotels and convenience stores are a better option for such technically advanced machines.

With time, new innovations are expected to take vending machines technology to even higher levels. Customers will enjoy enhanced convenience but this may come at a higher price to them.

Vending Business Facts

As one of the most profitable home based businesses, vending business is booming like never before. If you plan to start a vending machine business, it is imperative to have a complete picture of it. Like any other business, a successful vending machine business requires good attitude and management skills. Profitability will be determined by your creativity and smart business strategies and not the level of investment in sophisticated machines alone.

Although the start-up cost is not much, you must estimate the total cost of establishing a vending business. This will include:

• Purchasing vending machines
• Choice of products to vend
• Paying commission to place your machines in good locations
• Maintenance and servicing

All these decisions can be taken after deciding how much you are willing to invest in vending business as well as your ability to handle the various factors involved in running it smoothly. Once you have analyzed these aspects, it is time to purchase vending machines from a good vending machine supplier like Planet Antares Inc.

The locating of vending machines is another important task for vending operators. You must carry out research about the:

• Density of population of the area
• Nature of competition
• Products preferred
• SWOT analysis of your business
• Vending commissions to be paid

If you don’t have the time to place your vending machines in good locations, it is best to hire a professional locator service. These companies will help you find the right locations for your vending machines and products. Also, you can focus on other business issues which require more time, investment and attention.

When you have setup the vending business, keep monitoring the machines at regular intervals and undertake adequate steps for repair and restocking as and when required. There should be fresh products in your machines and the various parts should function properly for consistent performance. Check the inventory and replace slow moving products with bestsellers. Technical upgradation should also be undertaken periodically.

Now that you have an idea about the bigger picture, it will be easier to setup a vending machine business. Keep your capital restrictions and business goals in mind before actually taking any action.

Ensuring Higher Profits For Your Vending Machines

Whether you plan to start a vending business or have an already established business, your basic objective is to earn profits. Like any other industry, the vending machine business has also seen tremendous growth over the years. Currently, it is a $40 billion industry. So if you are a vending machine operator, you would want to have a share in this huge profit generating market.

Earning substantial profits is difficult due to the high level of competition among operators. On the other hand, there are many wholesalers who offer products and machines at much lower prices than retailers. This necessitates the use of various strategies to keep the money coming into your business.

#1: Price strategy
With the overall increase in retail prices, you can charge higher prices on vending machine products. This can result in great financial rewards if you expand your business to include large vending machines which earn higher amount per vending transaction. For example: The prices of soda or snack vending machine products are higher than the price of bulk candy vending or toy vending products. Choose a reliable vending machine company like Planet Antares Inc to get the right equipment with good features and reasonable price.

#2: Performance tracking strategy
You must regularly check the financial position of your vending business. Make sure that appropriate statements are prepared. Analyze the same to get an idea about the various expenses and income generating products and locations. Make your customers aware of your financial results to enable higher level of trust among them and your company. Verify that there are no instances of embezzlement or theft of revenue by employees.

#3: Commissions control strategy
Vending commissions are given to location owners in return for keeping the vending machines in their premises. You must study the sales pattern and revenue generation capability of different locations before fixing a low or high commission accordingly. This is a great way to cut down cost of operations.

#4: Updating strategy
Keep an eye on vending machine technology upgradation, product innovations, new locations, etc. this will help in replacing low performance elements with new and latest features. Not only do these improve customer demand but also help in increasing the profits of your business. You can go for more durable and strong vending equipment with additional investment. These may also possess features like cashless payment technology and sound security measures.

Remember that increasing vending machine profitability isn’t just about cutting cost of operations. It is also about creative strategies for improved performance.

Benefits Of Note Acceptors In Vending Machines

While customer service is important, the primary goal of every business is to earn profits. Commonly, this profitability is measured in terms of return on capital. If you are able to supply good quality products through well functioning vending machines, your business sales will be definitely high. However, high sales should be accompanied by low cost of operations to get maximum profits.

Many industry professionals and online informative sites advise beginners to go for simple, coin operated vending machines. These are easy to operate, service and provide all-cash income to vending machine owners.

But with time, you will realize that business expansion is necessary for sustainable returns. This means that you will have to purchase new machines, look for new locations and try new products. All this will lead to increased expenses and overheads.

If you are facing such a situation but don’t know how to improve business profitability without excessive spending, the simplest way to do so is using note acceptors.

Firstly, the note acceptor will allow more people to buy products. Customers don’t need to have change in the form of coins alone for getting the desired products. Your income will not only be maintained, but increase substantially.

Secondly, taking out the bank notes is easier than collecting coins. Many times, you will find spare change or coins lying on the floor below the vending machine. This is infrequent in case of Planet Antares vending machines with note acceptors.

Thirdly, note acceptors are a great investment because of their ability to provide higher return on capital than the amount spent on them. The average cost of a note acceptor is $500 which is much lower than the cost of a new vending machine.

Even if you invest in these devices for all your vending machines, it is worth the expenditure due to the increased sales and profits within a short period of time. You don’t even need to bear the burden of maintaining a new machine, just update your existing equipment.

The important decision is regarding the timing of such updation. How will you decide whether a simple coin operated vending machine is ready for a shift to note acceptor? This requires proper analysis of the various locations and vending machine performance. For machines making over $100 per week, a note acceptor can be recommended. Normally, you can expect a sales increase of about 10% with such updating.

The location of your equipment and target customers will also have a bearing on the success of vending machines with note acceptors. While some locations may have low collection of notes, you will hardly come across one with no user going for this payment option.
All in all, note acceptors are a reliable way of increasing business profitability for people who don’t want to spend too much money as investment in new vending equipment and products.