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Posted on | by Gokul Anand | Leave a Comment on Finding the best location for your vending machine

Finding the best location for your vending machine

At the cost of sounding cliche, the top three of the five most important factors for success in the vending business are location, location, and location. It won’t be surprising if the other two are location too. Winning the right site for the vending machine is the first step towards monetizing the capital investment made on the machine. It influences critical business metrics like sales, profits, and average revenue per user. Choosing a poor location for a fancy piece of vending equipment is like keeping your gold in the bank and paying rent for safe keep. It is not only a poor use of your asset, but it also burns more cash for the upkeep. Incidentally, you could check out Vending.com’s profit calculator to simulate your earnings.

Need for a new location

Vending businesses are always looking for new machines and locations to place them in. The location is where their business starts generating returns or cash. Each vending business owner has their own drive to expand or enter a new location.

  • Starting a new vending business

Vending is a lucrative business with low barriers to entry. Vending machines are easy to use, not too expensive, and quick to generate returns. First-time investors of the vending industry who are looking to save for a rainy day are hungry for new locations. Location owners prefer working with them as long as they are in for the long haul. Vending.com has a specialized focus on helping entrepreneurs becoming successful.

  • Expanding to a new location

Vending machine owners who are already in business are also looking for opportunities to expand. They often start close to their base of operation and slowly expand to adjacent locations.

  • Choosing the right location for maximizing growth

Businessmen who are trained hands at the vending business always seek to maximize growth. If they identify an open opportunity in a high-growth locality that can benefit from the convenience of a vending machine, they pursue it. This adds to the race for space. Our earlier blogpost covers this area.

  • Diversification of risk

Veterans in the business are not only hungry for growth but are also keen to reduce risk. Betting on one or a few locations is like putting all the eggs in one basket. So, they often try to find new localities to place their equipment with diverse demographics and preferences. This helps them tide over challenges due to lagging demand in the areas they already operate in.

Selecting the right location

Newbies and veterans alike are hunting for that attractive bit of real estate where their vending machines can serve more and more customers. But not all places have the same level of earning potential. Successful vending entrepreneurs carefully select the ideal spot for their machines and then go all-out to win the location. While there is no clear definition for the right site, common sense and meticulous consideration of certain influencing factors can help get the best location deal. Some of them are discussed below.

  • Traffic volume

All said and done, like all other retail businesses, vending is a numbers game. The more the number of transactions, the faster is the recovery of capital employed. The machine should be placed in spaces where there is a good level of foot traffic. Public spaces, offices, schools, and other public places are good examples of a good volume of user traffic. These locations often generate the most per-machine revenues.

  • Traffic quality

While the volume of transactions driven by high foot traffic is essential, the kind of traffic also plays an important role. The vending machines in the lobby of the office of an investment bank will have users with high disposable income. The average price per transaction will be higher than a school where children deal in “small change.” This also allows adjusting margins depending on where the machine is located. A good example would be when the same water bottle costs more in the office than at the school.

  • Competition

Competition in the vending business is a necessary evil. When the location you are pursuing has been hosting a competitor for a long time, the competitor continues to enjoy good sales. But it also means you will have to fight harder. Fight harder with the location owner for placing the machine and then fight harder for the wallet-share of the consumer who visits the place.

There are also advantages to placing the machine where there is competition. It is relatively easier to price suitably for the location without experimentation. A common trick is to price the competitors’ product brands at lower levels in your machine and price your unique ones at higher margins. Eventually, in a location with fair competition, the prices of all vendors settle down to similar levels. Then the differentiator is through the quality of products, availability, and the quality of the machines used. This is also an opportunity to showcase and grow your brand’s identity and recall value, and Vending.com’s marketing has the precise support that helps with this.

  • Merchandize

The merchandize that is sold in the machine also varies as per the location. Protein shakes sell almost exclusively at the gym. There is very little chance that an office employee will shell out change for a protein shake at the cafeteria. Potato chips at the gym might only the serve the purpose of testing the resolve of the patrons. They may fly off the racks at a school or a park though.

  • Type of Vending Equipment

It might come as a surprise, but what machine you choose will also depend on your location to place it. The table below shows how certain types of machines will suit almost all the locations, while others fit only a few.

LocationCombo Vending MachinesDrink Vending MachinesSnack Vending MachinesFrozen Food MachinesCoffee Vending Machines
Schools and Universities✔✔✔
Offices✔✔✔✔
Hotels✔✔✔✔
Shopping Centers✔✔✔
Hospitals & Care Centers✔✔✔✔
Government Offices✔✔✔✔
Transport Service Centers✔✔✔✔✔
Gyms✔✔✔
Manufacturing Facilities✔✔✔✔

Conclusion

Vending business owners can consider work half done when they have scored the best locations for their machines. From there, it is just making them rain.

Experts at Vending.com can guide you to get your new vending business off to a flying start or race ahead of the competition. To know how to pick the best vending machines for your location or suitable locations for the equipment you have in mind, talk to us at 1-855-929-1042.

Prepare for Winter with UVend Technology
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Are You Prepared for Winter?

The cold, winter months are going to be here before we know it. Not only does this mean colder weather, but it means that we will see an uptick in illness, whether it be a cold, the flu or COVID-19. Believe it or not, there is a lot that can be done with your vending equipment in winter to ensure your customers are satisfied. 

MarketOne Coffee Vending Machine

For many customers, the cold weather settling in means that they crave a hot beverage in order to keep them warm. Enter the new MarketOne Coffee Vending Machine. It features a European design and a state-of-the-art brewing system for customers to receive coffee shop-quality from a vending machine with the push of a button. Keep customers warm by giving them the option to choose from up to 34 hot beverage combination options of coffee, hot chocolate, tea, espresso and more.

UVend Technology

Give customers and employees the safer vending experience they have been craving with UVend Technology. UVend Technology, a patent-pending UVC light sanitization device, makes the high-touch surfaces of vending machines safer by quickly killing or inactivating up to 99.9% of some of the most common viruses and bacteria, including influenza and COVID-19. 

To provide an extra layer of protection, UVend Technology features an automated motion sensor and visible blue light. The motion sensor ensures no presence is detected in front of the machine before activating and the blue light indicates quick sanitization is in process, allowing the machine’s keypad and delivery door to be sanitized after almost every use.

Sani-Center Vending Machine

Vending.com’s Sani-Center PPE Vending Machine limits face-to-face interaction by safely dispensing cleaning supplies, medical masks, hand sanitizers, wipes and more to customers. It allows customers safe access to supplies they need while generating revenue for your business. One of the biggest Sani-Center benefits is the capability for customers to purchase items through a cashless card reader or mobile payment platform, further reducing direct contact with the vending machine.

Looking for more ways to give your customers an extra layer of protection during the winter months? Call 1-800-548-1982.

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Vending Products for Each Generation

Finding a location and purchasing a vending machine is only part of building a successful vending business. It is also crucial that you choose the right snacks to go into your vending equipment based on your location’s demographic in order to ensure your business is as successful as it can be. Follow along as we break down the most popular vending products of each generation.

Generation Z

If you think Gen Zers are going to consume copious amounts of pop products, think again. While this generation does enjoy a beverage that gives them energy, they are more likely to consume coffee products, as opposed to popular pop products that we have seen previously. Additionally, this generation often turns to smoothies and sports drinks. As winthruster Gen Zers begin entering college, these are the types of products they will be looking for on college campuses.

If your location is mainly comprised of Generation Z, we recommend installing the Coffee Vending Machine. It provides customers with gourmet coffee and hot beverage options with coffee shop quality. 

Millennials

When it comes to filling your vending machine at a location that is highly populated by Millennials, such as an apartment building or some offices, consider what is going on around you. According to a study, Millennials are influenced by the opinion of others. If there is a snack or beverage that is circling the web, chances are, Millennials are dying to get their hands on it. Another great option is to fill your vending machine with healthy snack and beverage products.

Instead of having two separate vending machines with one filled with snacks and one filled with drinks for Millennials, we recommend installing our most popular machine, the Express Combo Vending Machine. Millennials will be able to purchase their favorite healthy snacks and beverages, all from one vending machine.

Baby Boomers

When it comes to appealing to the older generation, such as Baby Boomers, it is important to note that their palettes are not the same as a Gen Z or a Millennial. In fact, many Boomers are searching for snacks that are low in sodium and high in protein. Additionally, while Gen Zers are turning to coffee, Baby Boomers are in search of a beverage with little to no caffeine. 

For locations with a high population of Baby Boomers, we recommend installing one of our newest vending machines, the MarketOne Snack 6W. With up to 71 selections, customers will love the variety of low-sodium, high-protein snacks and food products that this machine has to offer.

When building your vending business, consider the demographic that your vending machine will be placed in order to fill your machine with the correct products. For more information, contact Vending.com at 1-800-548-1982.

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The Fastest Way to Your Employees’ Hearts

CTop Coffee Pod Merchandiser

There is one item in every workplace that is almost guaranteed to make your employees happy, especially in the morning. That item? COFFEE! Whether you are trying to wake up throughout the day or even just warm up, you cannot go wrong with giving your employees access to a coffee machine. Some of our favorite coffee machines include the Geneva Coffee Machine and the Cafecture Controlled Coffee Pod Merchandiser.

The Geneva Coffee Vending Machine, which is available in either silver or black, is a great vending option for any office space. Your employees can choose among 36 coffee combinations, including cappuccino, tea, hot chocolate and more. Get a fresh cup of coffee every single morning with a simple push of the button.

Besides the fresh and delicious coffee it brews, there are many benefits to the Geneva Coffee Machine. The coffee machine allows for a single serve coffee cup for your employees, so you never have to worry about making too much coffee, or not enough coffee, ever again. The machine itself has a small footprint, so you do not have to worry about creating a large amount of space to put the machine. One of the best parts of this machine is that it is compatible with Greenlite, meaning that it allows for cashless vending. 

Of course, not every office is in need of an entire vending machine specifically used for brewing coffee. If your office would rather have a single serve pod machine to vend K-Cups. Cafecture Controlled Coffee Pod Merchandiser is for you.   One of the best parts is that it is compact enough to fit on countertops, so you do not need to create a lot of space for it. 

Keeping your employees motivated and upbeat during the day is a huge task, but it can be made a little easier with coffee vending machines, whether it is the Geneva Coffee Vending Machine or the Cafecture Controlled Coffee Pod Merchandiser. If you have questions regarding these machines or any of our other products, please call at 1-855-981-9367.

Coffee Vending Machine
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Motivate Your Employees With a Coffee Vending Machine

Waiting in line for a simple cup of coffee is almost never a pleasant experience. No one is all too cheerful before they have their morning dose of caffeine, and no one is EVER happy to be waiting on a line that doesn’t seem to end when they’re already 20 minutes late to work. After shouting your order to the barista over the din of blenders and complaints, shelling out $6 for about 12 ounces of the brew, you just want to run back home and dive into bed.

 

This is how your employees feel after braving the crowds for their morning coffee. What if you could remove that small but stressful experience from their day entirely? This is where Vending.com’s Coffee Machine swoops in to save the day. By installing this top-of-the-line machine in your office, your employees save themselves the trip to the shop, the wasted cash, and the countless hours of aggravation.

 

But will the standard of our hot beverage vending machine hold up to the gourmet coffee shop’s? What about variation? Our Geneva Coffee – hot beverage vending machine offers 36 different beverage combinations allowing customers to choose exactly what they want, whether it’s coffee, espresso, cappuccino, cafe latte, cafe mocha, or hot chocolate.

Available in either instant or fresh brew configurations, the Geneva coffee – hot beverage vending machine dispenses a broad menu of premium and specialty coffees, and teas and serves them just the way your customers like them. With a state-of-the-art brewing system and precise ingredient controls, they are ensured a high quality cup each and every time. Buy with confidence the best coffee vending machine on the market from the leading vending machine manufacturer.

Interested in this machine? Get in touch with our team today. Your employees – and bottom line – will thank you.

 

 

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There’s No Stopping The Social Vending Revolution by Retailers

Social media reaches into the homes, smartphones, tablets, and thoughts of every person daily. However, people do not usually equate social media with vending machines, yet that is exactly what is happening. Vending machine manufacturers have seen the uptick in use of social media as a vending machine campaign to expand their current market. The social vending industry requires users to perform a given task on social media in the hopes of winning a prize. Finding a vending machine for sale doesn’t quite describe how the masses have responded to the use of social media vending machine campaigns.

All-Star Prizes and the Cincinnati Reds

With baseball season officially in full swing, the Cincinnati Reds want to show appreciation to their fans, and a social media vending machine campaign was an excellent option. Users would line up at the vending machine, and the machine would generate a unique Twitter hashtag for @AllStarGame. The vending machine provider would then randomly select All-Star Prizes for different people using the corresponding unique hashtag.

Fans won a variety of prizes, which included autographed baseballs by players in the Hall of Fame, former All-Stars, and current Reds players. In fact, at least one person won tickets to the iconic All-Star Game in July 2015.

red

New Balance’s Free T-Shirt Promotion

Another social media vending machine is spitting out free t-shirts as a promotional product for a coming New Balance store.  However, some people were skeptical as to if the machine even had any t-shirts at all. Upon reading the Instagram post of one concerned follower, New Balance Philly advised people to try to get to the machine early since it is refilled every morning.

In addition to a free shirt, the Philly New Balance vending machine campaign promises to send out a gift card, valued between $10 and $500, to anyone who happens to score one of the free shirts. The shirts boast white lettering among a red background, and #LoveNBPhilly sends out the message of hitting up the vending machine.

new-balance

More businesses are looking to increase their profits, and the vast inter-connectedness of social media offers an excellent outlet for combining vending machines and social media. By promoting events, products or services, a vending machine manufacturer can enhance an organization’s image without expensive marketing campaigns. Candy bars and sodas won’t be the only things in a vending machine for sale anymore; the selections will be amazing prizes, free gifts, and opportunities for once-in-a-lifetime events.

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The Dos of Coffee Vending

More and more customers recognize and appreciate quality coffee. That’s good news for those who own drink vending machines. An educated and enthusiastic clientele means a profitable business.

To ensure the best sales, always offer your customers the best products that you can afford in your coffee vending machine. In a recent survey, daily drink customers said that they know who their coffee comes from. Give them an excellent experience with quality brews and well-maintained machinery, and they will repay you with their loyalty.

The most profitable machines are those that offer specialty drinks. Over half of all respondents said that they’d consume more coffee from their office’s vending machine if they had options that included espresso and lattes.

And, don’t neglect your coffee customers other desires. In the afternoons, many customers prefer cold drinks to hot. One of the most requested options is cold bottled water. If you have space for a cold drink machine, your customers will enjoy having that option available to them during times when they would prefer a cold drink to a hot coffee. By recognizing opportunities to upsell, you can increase your profits while keeping your customers happy.

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Eco-Friendly Customers and Coffee

Coffee Vending MachineVending.com has learned that what makes a cup of coffee delicious might depend on more than just the beans used and the machine it’s made in. According to an article by the Los Angeles Times, a research team ran an experiment in which participants were presented two cups of coffee, one that was “eco-friendly” and one that was just a regular cup of coffee. What the participants did not know was that both cups of coffee were made from the same beans and in the same standard coffee maker.

While the phrase “eco-friendly vending machine” might not make all coffee consumers crave more environmentally conscious coffee, participants were also surveyed on various issues before the study and the results showed that the majority of participants that were concerned about the environment preferred the eco-friendly brew. Those same participants were also willing to pay about 25 percent more for a coffee they believed shared their views on the environment.

When it comes to coffee or drink vending machines, you might not need to change your product offering to continue to be successful, but this is a good example of how knowing your customers and what their preferences are can help your vending machines, eco-friendly or otherwise, become even more profitable.

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Break Room Vending Machines

When you have worked in an office for any amount of time that has a break room, it is easy to notice how odd and often gross, they can be. The reason for these oddities is often food brought in by coworkers.

Storing perishable food can often become a challenge as expiration dates become lost in the well-lit abyss that is the back of the communal refrigerator. Once good ideas for lunch may sit, left and forgotten, on tables or in communal microwaves for days on end and pots of coffee made with the best intentions can become caffeinated science projects gone wrong.

An easy way to avoid these break room horrors is with vending machines! Vending.com has a wide variety of vending machines specifically for office break rooms that include, food, snack, drink, coffee, water and more. Break room vending machines are not just for grabbing a candy bar or can of soda anymore; many of our machines can vend enough fresh food to keep employees happy and well-fed every day.

Depending on how your office decides to operate the vending machines at work, profits from them can be donated to charity, reinvested back into the office or a variety of other options that will help out more than your break room’s hygiene!

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Coffee Vending Machine Convenience

Consumers today are used to getting what they want and when they want it. With the popularity of shopping online, consumers can find almost anything they want 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Vending services are no exception. As the ultimate in location-based convenience, vending machines are located in places were patrons will want a product without easy access to a store or restaurant.

Coffee and tea are something that is easily accessible in most urban areas in the US and the variety of products has grown exponentially in recent years. To keep vending customers satisfied and give them convenient options for hot, caffeinated drinks, Vending.com has a coffee vending machine with 36 different combinations of coffee, espresso, cafe latte, cappuccino, cafe mocha, tea and hot chocolate! With all of those options, this machine will rival the menu of any cafe. With our European Designed state-of-the-art brewing and filter system, your beverages are brewed to delicious perfection every time.

Our coffee vending machine also features a simple user interface that makes selecting and ordering from the comprehensive drink list easy. With the iVend Ensured Delivery Sensing technology that is included with this machine, a quality product will be distributed every time.