Friday, October 30, 2009

Choosing The Right Product For Vending

Product, Price, Place, Promotion- These are the key elements of marketing mix which are arranged in the order of priority. 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. The price of these vending machines depends on the model and features it includes. Smaller machines like candy and gumball cost you less in comparison with machines that come with sound and display systems.

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 is your target audience? The features of your vending machine should be in accordance to the age of your target audience. Planet Antares is one of the most trusted manufacturers of vending machines with over 3 decades of experience and still going strong.

Your target audience also influence the kind of product you choose to vend. For instance: if you are targeting at children, then candy, gumball, chips and ice-creams would be the 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.

Whatever product you choose to vend, ideal location is that which has maximum customer traffic. Ensure you keep these things in mind for becoming a successful vending operator.

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Monday, October 26, 2009

3 Tips on Picking the Correct Location for a Vending Machine

In vending machine business, location is probably the most important factor and consideration. Where you place your vending machine can make a world of difference to how well the business goes. Currently, markets are flooded with such machines, and most of them are churning out a good business.

Location seems to be the key factor in determining how well a vending business will go. So how does one determine which location is good, and which one is not? What should one look for exactly before deciding on a particular location? While the answers are many, following are 3 tips which can help you decide on the perfect location for your vending business:

Choose a location which is easy to access and offers high visibility
Locations which are easy to access and are frequented more by people offer much higher chances of a successful vending business. Potential locations can be inside or outside a grocery or convenience store.

Some good places where one can consider setting up a vending business:

• Next to an entrance and/or an exit
• Next to a water fountain
• Next to other vending machines, change machines and/or a coffee machine
• In a break room and/or waiting area
• Outside a restroom
• Next to the reception area
• At a music store, by the listening area
• By a cash register

You might want to ponder a little over whether you want to place your vending machine at an indoor or outdoor location. Both locations have their set of pros and cons. If you put your machine outdoors, customer can easily access it 24/7, but is it all that safe? There are both advantages and disadvantages to both options, and you must consider this option very carefully before taking a final decision.

That said, there are some facts which would rule this particular decision. Some machines are temperature sensitive and have to be placed accordingly. It is essential that you have a thorough understanding of the vending machine at hand.

Each state has different laws and rules governing the placement of vending machines, and before you take the plunge, make sure, you know these rules inside-out. While some states prohibit the placement of vending machines outside, some others require them to meet the standards set by the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA).

It is, therefore, important to know these rules before placing your vending machine. Planet Antares Inc provides guidance to vending operators for selecting the right location for their vending machines. Planet Antares is leading manufacturer of remarkable vending machines.

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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Create Competitive Advantage with Quality in Vending

Starting an own business is easy but sustaining the competition is the real challenge. Today, all businesses operate in competitive markets. In order to survive this severe competition, you need to be strong to ‘take on’ and ‘take off’ competition. Each organization has to identify the best way to do this. Strategies that are suitable for one business may not be suitable for another.

We often come across the word competitive advantage for running a business successfully. But what is this competitive advantage? And how can it be achieved? Competitive advantage occurs when an organisation acquires or develops attributes that allow it to out perform its competitors. Competitive advantage can be attained by cost leadership, differentiation and focus.

Cost leadership occurs when a firm delivers the same product or service as its competitors at a lower cost. Differentiation on the other hand occurs when the firm delivers greater quality of service for the same prize as its competitors. A focussed approach requires the firm to cater to the needs of an excusive competitive segment rather than a wider market.

More and more customers are depending on vending machines for their day to day needs because of the convenience and quick services rendered by them. Competitive advantage can be gained by concentrating on the quality of products sold. As we all know, modern customers are quality cautious. There are even prepared to spend more money but are not at all willing to compromise on the quality of goods and services purchased by them. Quality also plays a crucial role in vending business.

An operator has to check on the quality of goods offered for sale regularly and remove those goods that have expired. Remember well that your existing customers are the best source of advertising. They spread the good will of your company through their word of mouth and help you in acquiring new customers. Try offering all the latest and updated products to your customers and make sure that you charge a fair price for a quality product. Ensure that you offer superior quality of customer service including after sales service. This will help you keep your customers happy and make them come back to you for more business.

To get more help about how to run your vending business contact Planet Antares staff. Planet Antares have ben in the vending business for over three decades and have helped several on their way to financial independence.

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Friday, October 9, 2009

Tips When Starting Your Own Vending Business

Vending business is a great opportunity to earn full time or part time income. If you are looking to start your own vending business with a limited budget, then it is better to start small. Start with may be one or two machines and slowly expand from there. This will help you in building up bulk vending business is no time.

If you are a novice to vending business, then start vending a product which has huge demand and consider using machines that are not electrically powered. Try to vend products targeted at kids as they can bring in quite a lot of money. Once you have decided on what product to sell, its time to select a machine suitable for vending that particular product.

Technology advancement has given birth to several novel and innovative vending machines. It is always advisable to purchase a new vending machine as it comes with latest features, warranty period and also has low operating costs. Now, since you have even decided on the kind of machine to purchase, its time to identify the best location.

Choice of location is influenced by the kind of product you are going to vend. For instance refreshment drinks vending machine is ideal if you are targeting all age groups of customers, a candy machine is advisable if you are targeting kids. Survey is one way that helps in identifying the best vending location. You probably have to pay the location owner a percentage of your profits.. Once you machines have been installed in prime localities, all you need is to keep them well stocked and in proper working condition.

Ensure prompt servicing of your machines, empty the change drawer whenever they get full otherwise customers will have problem in purchasing products from you. Ensure that you dispose off outdated stock. This is very important in case you are vending medicines. Efficient and prompt servicing will attract more and more customers to your vending machines.

Vending business can be a great way to make money as long as you maintain every thing in a perfect and organised way. If your business does well, then you can hire people to work for you and you can sit back relaxed making money. Another point to take note of is that you should never by refurbished vending machines as these machines have no warranty and are being sold just because they are no more needed. Buy machines from reputed manufacturers like Planet Antares.

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