Thursday, January 17, 2008

Developing Reputation Of Your Planet Antares Vending Business

If you are really serious about a vending business, it will be crucial to establish and maintain a good business reputation. The first impression of your business will have a significant impact on its brand image. Your Planet Antares vending business should be perceived in the right manner by the customers.

There is aggressive competition in the vending industry and each operator is trying to get a larger market share for their business. In such circumstances, separating yourself from the competitors becomes essential for maintaining sustained business profitability. This can be done by making an impressive brochure, creative website and other marketing strategies.

Following are some of the important elements for building the brand name of your vending business:

a. Brochure
An interesting and informative brochure can make your vending services appear unique and special. The prospective clients can get an idea about the vending machines and products being supplied by you. This can help in making the selling process simpler and more professional and hence, establish instant credibility.

b. Business stationary
your visiting cards, letterhead and other documents should display what your brand looks like and stands for. The company name, logo and other distinctive features must be illustrated clearly.

c. Vehicle advertising
use your vending business trucks and route vehicles to take advantage of free advertising and promotion. This cost effective promotion strategy can enable brand name publicity for your Antares vending business.

d. Machine front door
since your vending machine comes in direct contact with your customers, these can be used to promote your products as well as services. It’s also a great way of giving a facelift to your equipment. An attractive design or new front panels will bring new life to an otherwise ordinary vending machine and draw customer attention.

e. Uniforms
apart from being the sign of a professional business entity, uniforms for employees provide another channel for building a brand name. They have to deliver products to clients and should be dressed in a smart way that will display your brand on their uniforms.

f. Company website
in the current Internet age, every business needs to have an online presence. More and more people are using the net these days and want to save time and energy by searching or and comparing vending machines and products online. Make sure that your site appears different and more professional as compared to any other similar ones and offer sophisticated, professional services.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Comparing Open And Closed Cashless Vending Systems

Cashless vending machine technology has become very popular among vending operators as well as customers. It allows both of these parties to enjoy hassle-free vending. There is no need for carrying change for customers and for vending operators, it is easier to account for income generated, reduce theft and embezzlement and ensure smoother operations.

There are two main types of cashless vending systems. The “open system” refers to a process wherein it is possible to record, process and reconcile the purchase transaction without proprietary settlement technology. For example: when a customer pays for a dispensed product through credit card, it is under the open system of payment. There is no need for any in house software for swiping, authorizing and processing of the transaction.

On the other hand, a closed system is where unique application software is needed for processing non cash transactions. Such a system can be used to monitor and track the internal operations of your vending business. With such a system, you can restrict account balances, transactions and purchase frequency of your Planet Antares business through a centralized account.

It is also possible to participate in open and closed systems both, even though closed environment has always been and will be preferred as the better cashless payment technology in the vending industry. It has the advantage of higher security and faster transaction processing. Also, you can offer incentives to employees in the form of purchase discounts.

Talking about cashless vending, you cannot ignore an important aspect of it called “intelligent vending”. The driving force behind the growth of cashless vending technology has been the remote data polling. Telemetry is also important to the development of cashless vending technology.

Vending operators are slowly recognizing and appreciating the benefits of telemetry and cashless vending. Hence, intelligent vending will only become more popular in the future. Another reason for its development is the changing customer preferences and the increasing competition in the vending industry. Operators will have to focus on cutting costs and find ways to increase return on investment.

“Online systems” will need sound remote sensing and monitoring system which will always require an “on” communication network. “offline systems” that use debit and credit cards will need to connect occasionally, perhaps just once a day.