Promotional Strategies For Successful Vending

Promoting your vending business is essential to increase customer base, keep the interest of current customers alive and motivate employees and operators too. Not only will effective promotion help in pleasing the customers but also fulfill the requirements of route drivers. Moreover, you can build your business brand image.

Many vending machine operators make the mistake of thinking that running a vending business doesn’t require any marketing or promotion. Contrary to the popular belief that vending machines can sell on their own, you will need to do a certain amount of marketing to attract customers and get new locations.

A successful promotion need not be of any specific type. It may range from homogenous products created by the vending operator to sophisticated games and contests that requires a complex procedure of sending competing coupons to customers or route drivers.

Some vending machine manufacturers and distributors like Planet Antares Inc may also carry out promotional activity. If your promotion isn’t successful, it will be due to lack of interest on part of the end consumer.

As a vending machine operator, you can plan your vending business promotions according to the following elements:

• Size of vending machine business
• Nature of customers
• Product trends and demand
• Needs of the route drivers
• Budget restrictions

If you are planning a promotion campaign, it will depend on all of the above factors. Basically, you will need to be creative while promoting your vending machines, products, etc. this may be done in a simple way by giving caps or t-shirts to customers or you may opt for a more expensive and impressive campaign.

Another option is to offer combo snacks as special promotion of your Antares vending machines. Customers love specials and even if they don’t need the vending products, they will order them to get a free gift or extra stuff. Many vending operators have used this way of giving prizes with every purchase to increase their customer base and in turn, business profitability.

The trick is to make your vending machines more interesting and attractive to arouse customer interest and encourage impulse buying. In recent years, promotions have become quite popular among vending operators to beat the competition.

For route driver promotions, you must aim at making their work easier by reducing the paperwork and other methods of motivation. Set targets of work performance and give monetary rewards to the winner. Also, you can run competition for product accounting and reward the most efficient performer. It goes a long way in encouraging honesty and breaking their monotony of work.

How To Avoid Getting Fooled While Starting A Vending Business

So you’re ready to step into the vending industry and be your own boss. In this $40 billion industry, you will find as many fraudsters as genuine companies. As a beginner, you may not know how to differentiate between the two. However, it is extremely important that you gain the vending machines and products from a reliable source only.

Sometimes, you may be offered a deal that’s too good to be true. Many vending opportunities with claims of great features and low price can be found in the market. This doesn’t mean that these claims will be fulfilled. Most of these companies are fake and look for ways to rip-off ignorant customers.

It is also possible that you come across ads for sale of vending route. This may be part or whole of the deal. Before you agree to purchase anything, it is essential to examine the equipment carefully. Verify that there are no broken parts or other problems with the machines. You can also take someone with you if they are an expert or know more about the vending equipment. Also, you must enquire about any problems being faced by the previous owner of the vending route and the reasons for selling it.

While buying a vending machine, make sure that it is good quality equipment such as Planet Antares vending machines. Another factor to be considered is the ease of use. It should be simple enough to operate by children and adults. Even though sophisticated and technically advanced machines look cool and attract customers, they may be difficult to use and customers may not come back again.

Check the dispenser to make sure that the area from which he product comes out doesn’t have any problems. Many vending machines face the problem of products getting stuck in the vending machine. Customers may not want to wait in front of a vending machine for too long. This can easily result in loss of sales and profits to competitors.

You must also see whether the machine is safe to use. It should be well installed and difficult to move. There should be proper provision for avoiding any accidents so that customers can use the vending machine easily. If there is an accident, you may be asked to remove your equipment from a good location which will again result in business losses.

When you go to buy a vending machine, you must know what you want to sell through it. This is imperative to make the right choice of vending machine to suit customer and business requirements. This will also help in matching the potential locations with target customers and chosen machines in a better manner. Do your homework to decide which product can be easily obtained, stocked and dispensed. The cost of different items also varies according to their size and type. This will also be a deciding factor.

The next factor which is very important will be the frequency of repairs to be done. A good quality vending machine will not need too much repair and servicing. However, you must ask for an instruction manual while purchasing the equipment in order to handle minor repairs on your own. For bigger problems, you can ask the technical support staff of the vending company to help you.

If you keep all these factors in mind while buying vending machines, there will be a lesser chance o getting fooled. Be a smart investor and use your business acumen wisely to get value for your money. Set a time schedule for servicing and refilling your vending machines and keep expanding business as your machines generate profits.