Vending Location Guidelines

Selecting the right kind of location for your vending machine is quite challenging. Place or location plays a key role in success or failure of vending business. One unique feature of this business is that you do not require any special skills. You only learn from your mistakes; however there will not be any serious damage to your business.

Since vending is a customer centric business, location or place plays a vital role. Finding strategic locations for placing vending machines is not as easy as it may sound. This is only possible with a thorough market research. One way of understanding how this business works is by going along the vending route or getting information from a route planner. Since these are the first ones to gather information about existing and new business avenues. Even a vending locator can be of great assistance to you.

However, there are few things which you need to bear in mind while identifying and finalising on a location.

Accessibility and visibility: These two aspects are very important while locating your vending machine. Both these factors help in creating more business and repetitive purchasing. Some potential places for locating your machine are near the entrance or exit of any shopping mall, next to water fountain, opposite a rest room, besides a coffee maker, near the reception, next to cash counter, near a music store, in a waiting area (petrol station) etc. The main aim here is to locate the machine in or near a place where there is some amount of customer waiting.

Another option while locating your machine is to place the machine indoor or outdoor. Each of these has its own merits and demerits. For instance: if you place your machine outdoor, customer will be able to access it 24 hours without any restrictions. But is it safe to place your machine outdoor? On the contrary, placing the machine indoor is definitely safe but, there are restrictions on timings. An operator needs to compare both the merits and demerits of each option before finalizing. Sometime the revenue generated by the business may dominate its demerits.

Another thing which operators need to be aware of is the local and state regulations in regards to placement of vending machine. Since there are few states that do not allow vending machines to be placed outdoor. While few states require the vending machine to meet the standards set by National Automatic Merchandising Association.

Planet Antares staff can be of great help while selecting a location. You can trust them on location as all the locations proposed to you by Planet Antares have been researched about. You can select the best location depending upon the analysis done.

How To Get Brand Recognition in Vending Machines

Since vending is a customer influenced business, it is very important to understand customer perception about your business. Hence you need to create a unique identity for yourself in the market. This helps customers to discriminate you from your competitors. Brand recognition becomes very crucial in this business and this can be made possible by using a professional website. Prepare a brochure or adopt any other significant element that sets you away from the regular operators.

Few ways of establishing brand recognition are:

• Business cards: Make use of business cards or letter head with your company logo, this helps in creating a visual identity for your-self.

• Brochures: Use brochures for advertising your company. These are effective advertising tools that help in establishing credibility.

• Website: This is internet generation; most of us browse the net whenever we want to purchase a new product or commodity. Create a highly professional website for your self that provides information related to your business. Design it in such a way by understanding what most customers would look for in such websites.

• Vending machine: Generally customers get lured by the looks of a vending machine. If you have an old machine, then you can make some modification in its looks. You can replace the old exterior panels of the machine with pre cut plastic panels for a trendier look. Thus you can promote your brand in client locations. Buying machines from Planet Antares can give you instant boost in sales.

• Signage: Make use of free advertising and branding opportunities. This is the most cost effective marketing tool.

• Employees: In case you have employees, then make sure they all carry the same uniform. Since employees represent the company, they can publicize your brand more then anyone else. Your employees should be perfectly dressed and proudly display you brand on their uniforms.

Which method to adopt depends exclusively on operators personal choice.

Method for Choosing the Right Kind of Vending Machine

With increasing use of vending machines, more and more varieties of machines are being introduced in to the market. Managing vending business is not as simple as purchasing and installing one. It requires a lot of planning and strategy development. To begin with operator needs to come up with an estimated sales forecast taking in to account the present location of the vending machine.

Operator needs to understand the needs of customers and determine what exactly they are looking for? This would definitely determine the success or failure of this business. The income generated by this business is influenced by three factors- the type and number of items sold, number of existing players in a location and quality of target customers.

The type of item sold or offered should be based on your target customers. For instance: if you are targeting children, it is advisable to vend chocolates, ice creams, toys, pop corn and similar products that can entertain kids. When it comes to selection of vending machine, it is done based on the individual’s budgetary limitations. Operators can go for most complex and expensive machines that are capable of offering more that one kind of product at a time or go for some simple and reasonably priced machines like snack and soda machine.

A wide range of vending machines are available in the market. These include the simple coin operated machine to the most complex and innovative one. Planet Antares provides the best machines which have proven results. Technological advancement has been able to gift mankind with various varieties of vending machines. Few instances are mentioned below:

• Few machines are capable of reading your identity card and driving license. This avoids vandalism and prevents theft.

• Some vending machines use cold systems with no greenhouse gases. These are environmental friendly machines.

• Vending machines can also sell digital contents. This kind of machines allow you to acquire and store in your USB devices which can later be connected to videos, music, movies, Blu-Ray etc.

• Modern vending machines are also capable of converting VHS format into digital or DVD format.

As an operator, you need to keep yourself updated with latest developments in vending industry. This helps you offer the best and latest products to your customers, thereby boost your sales.

Customer Satisfaction Key for Successful Vending- Planet Antares Success Formula

Vending is a business where there is no direct one on one interaction between the operator and the customer. This does not mean that customer response or customer satisfaction is not important. In fact, vending is a customer dominated business and for making this business a success, operators need to keep themselves updated with changing tastes, preferences and market needs.

To begin with first of all operators need to identify their set of target customers and what they are looking for. Once you have identified your target customers, keep them updated with changes. Communicate information through the medium that is most suitable for them- direct mailers, e-mail, phone etc. A recent study has proved that vending industry is losing a lot of customers due to lack of proper awareness. Cultivate awareness regarding new vending technology and products in order to build a strong customer relationship.

Word of mouth is the best advertising strategy especially in vending industry. You can be proud of yourself if you have satisfied at least one customer. Because this business works on the principal that one happy customer refers your business to ten others in his family or friends circle. In addition to this, if the operator comes up with some special discounts and offers, then you can lure many more customers towards your business.

Besides discounts, coupons and free gifts, modern customers expect three important things from vending operators.

• Quality: Today’s customers do not mind spending some extra money in order to avail the best quality products.

• Latest products: Most customers like experimenting with new products that are introduced into the market for the first time. Make sure you offer all the latest products that hit the market. Brand consciousness is increasing among modern customers. So, you can make them happy by offering branded products. Another advantage with these products is that they do not require additional promotion as they are known world wide.

• Cleanliness: Make sure your Planet Antares machines are always kept clean and in good working conditions. This will ensure that a customer who visits your machine will not return empty handed. This will also create goodwill for your company among customers.

These three if implemented can give you guaranteed success.

Location Key Aspect Of Vending Business

Operators should always keep one thing in mind. Vending is a customer oriented business. Hence vending operators need to choose a place that is visited by large number of people. The most preferred vending locations are restaurants, parks, malls, bus stations, pubs, schools, grocery shops etc. Vending operator job does not end just by locating populated places. In fact it begins from there. Hence operators need to ensure that the choice of the place suits the product you are going to vend. The best location for your machine will be those places where people wait for several hours. Vending sales is not compulsive buying, it is generally impulsive buying. Most buyers either get attracted to the machine or the products offered for sale.

Place or location is key elements of marketing mix. This clearly shows us the importance of product selection in a business. Vending industry is very resourceful in terms of the products it offers. An operator can choose anything from water to DVD’s. The choice of your product is greatly influenced by the location which in turn is dependent on your financial ability.

The choice of your machine is greatly influenced by your investment ability. You have several vending machines available in the market ranging from few hundred dollars to several thousands of dollars. After deciding on your investment ability, the next important step would be identifying a machine that would be appropriate for vending your products. Some machines can vend two or more products simultaneously while others dispense only one product at a time. The price of these machines varies accordingly. Who are your target audience? The features of your vending machine should be in accordance to the age of your target audience. It should be in such a way that they can operator with ease.

Your target audience will also influence the kind of product you are choosing to vend. For instance: if you are targeting at children, then candy, gumball, chips and ice-creams would be perfect choice. You also have the option of healthy products like cereal bars, juices, milk, and low fat snack. These items are in great demand because of growing health consciousness among people. Another product with increased sales in recent past is prepaid phone cards. The ideal location for them could be bus and train terminals.

Ensure you keep these things in mind for becoming a successful vending operator.

Steps before Taking up Vending Business

There is no single business model that ensures success or promises guaranteed returns without any hard work. Vending is no exception to this fact. How does a vending machine work? Customer just needs to pop in few coins into the machine to enjoy a cup of coffee or sandwich of his choice. With vending technology taking a whole new turn, this million dollar industry is offering excellent employment opportunities to several new and upcoming entrepreneurs.

Few steps have to be followed before starting this business.

• Setting goals is the first and foremost step before starting any business. Goals determine the purpose with which you have set up the business. Why are you into this business? Your goal answers this question.

• Once goals are set, you need to plan your activities so that you can achieve the goals. For instance: your goal is to become top most soda supplier. So what equipment would you need? Where should you place it to maximize your sales? Who would you supplier be? How much investment is needed? All this and many more things need to be considered.

• After deciding on the activities that are to be taken up. Your next important step would include a small basic research work. You need to find out how many operators exist? How far are they located from your proposed location? On an average what are the number of hits on their machine? Is there any untapped segment? How frequent stocks have to be changed? What would be their maintenance costs? And so on.

• After getting a fair idea from your research work, proper analysis needs to be done. Make a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. Analyze your prospects and at the same time consider the bottle necks that may come up in your way. This would help you to be prepared for the worst.

• Develop a USP (Unique selling proposition) for your product. USP is that which differentiates your product to the existing ones.

• After all the ground work is completed, its time for implementing your thoughts and ideas. Make sure there is flexibility for making some corrections in them if required.

Thus careful planning and right approach can bring you huge success.

Which Vending Machine Should I Purcahse

Looking to start a vending business? Wondering which machine to purchase? There are several vending machines that are offered for sale in the market. The choice of machine would depend on the kind of product you wish to vend, your target customers and the location in which you would install them.

Let us look at each of these aspects in detail:

• Kind of product: Operators can either dispense a branded or unbranded product. In case you plan to vend branded products, glass front vending machines would be ideal. The main advantage of this machine is that customer would be able to see the product which he/she is about to purchase. Moreover these products do not require additional promotional activities as they are renowned world wide. When it comes to unbranded products or those products that have consistent demand, operators can go for closed vending machines.

• Target customers: Who is your target customer? This is influenced by the kind of product you dispense. In case you are targeting kids, you would be vending chocolates, toys, ice creams or other items that can lure kids. In that case you need to buy a machine that is simple and easy to operate. Besides the ease of operation, the machine needs to look attractive with flashy colors or animations.

• Location: Location is one of the key factors that influences the success or failure of your business. Most ideal place for installing vending machines is high customer traffic areas like schools, colleges, hospitals, offices, parks and malls. Which ever location you target, glass front vending machines are highly beneficial as they catch customer attention easily and create an instant in them to purchase the product.

Irrespective of which machine you purchase, make sure you prefer new machines like those from Planet Antares instead of used or refurbished ones. Since the efficiency and inbuilt features of a new vending machine are far more superior to a used or refurbished one.