Various Planet Antares Vending Machine Models

Even though vending machines have gain huge popularity in the recent past, it is one of the oldest business models. Initially these machines were used to dispense few selective products. But with technology advancement, changing customer needs and lifestyles, these machines started dispensing almost all kinds of products. As a result several hundreds of vending machine models have been introduced in to the market.

Vending machines available in the market can be broadly classified into mechanical vending machines, electrical vending machine, combination vending machine and small or large vending machines.

Mechanical vending machines do not use electricity for functioning and do not have any automated features. However, there are several benefits associated with this business such as easy to locate, completely coin generated income, ease during transportation, easy refilling and repairs and most importantly low power consumption. However, there are few disadvantages with these machines. These machines are prone to frequent breakdowns and thus have lower earning potentiality.

Electrical vending machines are another category of machines that offer respite from all these problems and thus allow operators to earn more money. Combination vending machines are the third kind of machines that are capable of dispensing more than one product at a time. These machines are easy to operate, attractive, have higher capacity and provide higher revenue per vend.

Small or large vending machines are the fourth category of machines. These are the best choice for new or upcoming entrepreneurs. The reason being their compact size, ease of operation, easy to repair and refill features. Large vending machines on the other hand have greater profit making capacity and are preferred choice of business owners as they offer variety of products.

Hence it is always advisable that the operator analyzes his business objectives and choose the best model suitable for his kind of products to be offered.

Planet Antares offers state of the art vending machines exclusively designed for perfection.

Things You Should Know Before Starting Planet Antares Vending Business

Why is it that even though several people start their own vending business, very few turn out to become successful? The main drawback is that most people lack clear cut idea on what needs to be done before starting their own vending business. This article aims at imparting things that need to be borne in mind before starting your own vending business.

• Thorough market research: To begin with, irrespective of the kind of business you take up, it is mandatory that you conduct a through market research. You need to find out answers for questions like Why do you want to take up this business? What is your budget? How do you plan to achieve your goals? Starting a business on your own is not as simple as it may sound to be. In fact to become successful in this venture, a lot of planning, hard work and strategic implementation is required.

• Guidance: Start interacting with people who are similar line of business. Their experience and knowledge would help you in understanding market scenario and also about competition and competitors strategies.

• Online research: Vending is one of the very few business models that gives you complete freedom when it comes to purchasing of vending machine or products that you would like to dispense in the machine. Operators need to make use of this situation very carefully. Before making any decision related to vending business, make sure you browse the net, gather information, analyse options and finally make a decision. In your quest for purchasing new vending machines you may come across fraudsters, this research would help you acquire genuine products and machine at most reasonable prices. Planet Antares has been around for decades and is trusted by almost everyone for its robust machines and a great business model.

• Advertising and marketing: By this time we all know that competition is very severe in vending industry and if you are looking at sustaining this competition, you may need to resort to latest technology or advertising and marketing strategies. These are time tested methods that have been quite successful in drawing more number of customers towards your business.

These simple aspects if borne in mind can give you success in your business venture.

How to Identify the Right Vending Company – Planet Antares Tips

Not only vending machines but companies offering vending machines are also available in all shapes and sizes. In such a situation how can you identify a right vending machine company? This article is an attempt to answer this question.

Does the company meet your requirements: The items offered by this company meet your requirements? If yes then you can go ahead. But one thing which new vending operators need to bear in their mind is that not everyone is keen in working with you. So you may even have to pay them something in return in order to do business with you.

How much do you need to pay them: 50/50 is the most commonly agreed upon amount? Anything beyond this is paid only in exceptional circumstances. Most vending companies provide games for free in exchange to the profit percentage paid to them.

The crazy for vending machine business is only increasing with changing times. In order to make use of this prevailing situation, several companies are coming up. Of these few companies are only trying to misguide you with their false and exaggerated commitments. This is when operators need to be very cautions. Vending is purely a customer related business and the peculiarity of this business is that there is hardy any interaction between the buyer and the seller. Since Vending machines do all the sales operators need to be very choosy while purchasing them?

No business guarantees success or high returns without any efforts and vending is no exception to this fact. Although anyone can start this business, only those who have understood the ins and outs of this business can survive this competition and create a unique position for themselves in this market.

All this clearly indicates that a lot of planning, hard work and strategies are required to become successful. It is advised to consult Planet Antares staff to know the latest into the vending business.

Factors to Be Considered Before Purchasing Vending Machines – Planet Antares Tips

The kind of machine you purchase is definitely going to influence the success of your business. With increase in number of vending users, a wide variety of machines capable of dispensing different products are introduced in to the market. The choice of vending machine is no doubt influenced by several factors like financial ability of operator, kind of product he would like to sell using this machine, his target audience and the location in which he would install his machine.

Besides these operator also needs to consider few aspects while purchasing a Planet Antares vending machine. These are:

• Vending machines come in various sizes like Compact vending machine, full line vending machine and counter top machine. The location you choose influences the size of the machine you need to purchase. A small machine can be easily placed any where as it occupies less floor space whereas this is not the same with larger machines. However, each of these has its own benefits and drawbacks.

• Power consumption: The machine you purchase need to be energy efficient as none of us want to pay huge power bills.

• Ability to give competitive advantage to operator: Identify products and machines that are not very common. Do thorough market research for finding products and machines that are unique. This will help you sell and locate your products without much difficulty since no similar products or machines are available.

• Source from which you are purchasing the machine: Now that you have finalized on the product, location and kind of machine you need, your next step would be to purchase a machine that best fits your business requirements. Always prefer machines of reputed and established companies. Avoid purchasing used or refurbished machines. The price of these may be tempting but remember that you end up spending more than what you have invested. You will spend many time more that what you have saved by purchasing a used machine.

Healthy Vending-Huge Success among Schools

Since inception of vending, schools have always been preferred location for installing these machines. However, in the last few years obesity has been on the rise. Obesity has been recorded not only among adults but even among children of all age groups. This has raised alarms in vending industry.

All this has lead to black mark on vending industry. Vending has been blamed because they are generally linked to junk food machines. In order to accommodate changing trends towards healthier vending and provide best services, only healthy snacks and food items are being offered for sales in schools. It is very difficult to place both healthy and less healthy items next to each other and encourage students to purchase healthy food.

If you are novice to this industry and looking to start your own vending business, try healthy vending. Healthy vending is gaining popularity these days as schools are encouraging healthy vending machines in their premises. These machines offer low calorie cookies, candy bars and baked black bean chips instead of the regular junk food.

If you are a vending operator, you can try Cold food vending machines. This machine also feature a wide variety of food items like healthy cereal, corn flakes, salads and combo meals. In fact few schools are introducing soymilk and juice vending machines from reputed manufacturers like Planet Antares. Vending machines are even offering vitamins, minerals, trace elements and several other pills in vending packs.

Most of these items are low in carb/carb friendly, low fat/fat free, sugar free/no sugar added. Hence they do not have any adverse effects on our health. With more and more customer switching to healthy foods, vending machine operators are boldly offering increased varieties of healthy items in their vending machines.

Thus healthy vending has gained huge acceptance among health conscious customers.

Controversy While Purchasing Vending Machine

Vending business allows you to stand on your own legs by giving you self confidence and great amount of financial independence. A person interested in starting vending business of his own has the flexibility of either taking it up on a full time basis or a part time basis. To begin with, you can start with one or two machines working out of your home or by placing a machine in your locality. Once your customer base increases and you understand the trick of this business, you can start re-investing in more machines and grow your company as large as you like.

Once you have a clear cut idea on the kind of business you are going to take up, the next and most important step is to purchase the most appropriate machine that suits your business requirements. There are different vending machines available in the market. So, purchasing a right vending machine is often confusing hence you should carefully evaluate them before you finalize on one machine.

Some of the commonly found vending machine models are:

Mechanical vending machine: These machines do not run on electricity. These machines do not have any automated features. But still they have several benefits associated with them- easy to locate, refilling and repairing is also quite simple, small and portable size makes transportation pretty easy and most importantly there are no electricity bills.

Electrical vending machines: This machine gives you relief from all the problems that arise from mechanical vending machines. They also allow you to earn more.

Combination vending machine: As the name itself states, combination vending machine can dispense more than one product at a time. These are very attractive, easy to operate, have larger storage capacity and can generate high income. They also accept multiple modes of payment.

Small vending machines: These are best option for novice in vending business. These do not occupy much floor space and can be placed anywhere easily.

Large vending machines: These have higher potential to earn and are preferred by most vending operators. These machines are more secure because of their large size.

It is at the discretion of vending operator to choose the machine that suits his requirements. Planet Antares machines are said to be the best because of their quality and the trust they have developed over the years.

Location Of Vending Machine

The place or location in which in install your Planet Antares vending machine is very crucial for success of your business. Operator has to look for the right kind of location with good customer traffic. Though this may look to be very simple, in reality choosing the perfect location is a tough challenge faced by vending operator.

Choice of vending location is influenced by several factors like products you vend, target customers and similar factors. There are two main aspects which every vending operator needs to consider before installing his/her machine. These two factors determine the success or failure of your business. Accessibility and visibility are the two factors we have been talking about.

Vending machines are generally located in schools, offices, shopping malls, street corners, parks, recreation clubs, gym, music store, bus station, railway station and other similar places where customers would spend some time in order to complete a task. The main motive behind placing these machines in such localities is visibility.

Vending business works completely on instinct buying. The moment a customer glances this machine, he is either lured by its attractive looks or product offered by it and is thus forced to purchase one. Hence choosing the right location is very vital for the success of your business.

Another option for locating Planet Antares vending machine which operators need to consider is either to locate them indoors or outdoors. Each of these options has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. 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.

Hence before finalizing on the ideal location, operator has to compare both merits and demerits of each option and finally choose the best and most feasible option for him.

How to Identify New Vending Locations?

There are no set boundaries for operating vending business. This is an open market and everyone can set up his/her business in any place of his choice. However, when it comes to choosing the right kind of location, it’s quite challenging. Operator’s choice of location is influenced by several factors like financial ability, kind of product and target audience. Hence it becomes imperative for the operator to consider few aspects like visibility and accessibility.

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.

How can you find a prospective location? There are several methods of locating new and high customer traffic localities. You may do it all by yourself or even take the support and guidance of a locator. Planet Antares customer support also guides vending operators about selecting the best location in their preferred area. If you are looking for a location yourself, to start with, you can make use of flyers that carry information about the various services offered and contact details. Flyers is the best method when it comes to promoting information related to existing operators in the locality, most commonly used models of vending machines, their prices, services offered and similar information that impacts the success of your business.

Another way of identifying new locations is by advertising. With the prospects of success being very high, several operators are spending huge money on various modes of advertising. However, operators need to be choosy when it comes to investing their hard earned money and be very cautious so that they do not get carried away by any misleading information.

Once you collect leads, it is up to the operator to close the deal on location. Operators also need to be aware of the various local and state regulations relating to placement of vending machine. For instance: there are few states that do not allow vending machines to be placed outdoor. A thorough knowledge of all these would enable you to run your business smoothly without any operational hiccups.

If you plan to start your vending business, you can get in touch with experts from Planet Antares. They assist you in choosing the best location for vending business and also provide wide range of vending machines to choose from.

Tips While Taking Up Vending Business

Since you have decided to start a vending business, you must be totally aware of its advantages. Before starting any business for that matter, it is imperative for the operator to obtain maximum information about the business, its scope, and existing operators, machines commonly used by them, products in demand and most common issues arising during setting up this business.

There is no doubt in stating that vending is a very profitable business that does not require huge capital unlike any other business venture. It is important for you to decide how much you would like to invest. Since the remaining process is influenced by the amount of money you are prepared to invest in this business.

If budget is your main constraint, you can decide whether you would like to hire or purchase a vending machine. The next important step would be identification of right location. The market research done by you earlier would come to your aid now. Vending business would remain profitable if and only if you learn the secrets of running it properly.

Most operators concentrate only on product, machine, and location and tend to ignore maintenance and customer service. These two factors are equally or in fact more important. Maintenance here would mean regular servicing of the machine, refilling the machine on time, replacing outdated or expired products and collecting cash on time. If you do not have time to do it all by yourself, you can delegate some of these works to an operator but one thing that is important is that you need to manage all these works personally, in order to make sure that everything is done promptly on time.

Staring a vending business is quite easy and can be taken up by anyone. However, withstanding the competition and creating a unique identity for yourself is quite challenging. This can be achieved with proper planning and careful and strategic approach.

Planet Antares can help you in every step when you decide to start your own vending business. All you need is to fix up an appointment with Planet Antares staff and start a profitable business journey today!

Simple Tips for Successful Vending by Planet Antares

The mantra of successful business is choice of its Product, Price, Place and Promotion. All these four play crucial role in almost all businesses. However, all these factors are inter related and each of them play a very vital when it comes to a vending business. Since vending is a customer oriented business these factors are even more vital.

We all take up vending business for numerous reasons but the ultimate goal of everyone is to generate huge revenue. Let us look in detail as to how each of these factors influences the success of a vending business.

• Product: There are several products available in the market. There choice however depends on your target audience and location. For instance: If you have targeted children, you can choose to vend toys, chocolates, ice creams, pop corns, games, snacks, food items etc. The choice of this product would in turn depend on where you would like to locate the machine. In case you are looking to place the machine near a park, you can dispense pop corn, ice cream or toys.

• Price: Pricing is also crucial for success of any business. 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 this vending machine 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.

• Place: Place or location is also very crucial for your vending business. Placing the right kind of machine in right location can give you guaranteed returns. Finding strategic locations for placing vending machines is not as easy as it may sound. It is only with thorough market research, that you will be able to identify the right location.

• Promotion: This depends on the kind of product you would like to dispense. In case you are dispensing branded products, you do not need to undertake additional promotional activities. However, if you are vending unbranded items, you can go for paper ads or try coupons and similar activities for boosting your sales.

These simple tips if born in mind can give you huge success. For more information, contact Planet Antares support staff.

How To Make Vending Successful?

Vending is one business that is gaining huge popularity these days not only among customers but also among operators. More number of operators prefers to take up this business. Besides its popularity, vending is best source for earning additional income.

Cost of living these days are so high that single income is not sufficient to maintain the family properly. So, it is advantageous of taking up a business that does not require much time but can guarantee you substantial income. Vending is one such business opportunity that gives you financial freedom and at the same time comfort and convenience of working at your own pace.

How to make this business a huge success? Proper planning and hard work can bring you success in vending. Not only vending, these aspects fit well for all kinds of businesses. Factors that can boost your sales and thereby bring success are mentioned below:

• Quality: Modern customers are quality conscious. They are ready to spend more amounts but are unwilling to compromise on the product quality. Ensure that you stock your machine with best quality products.

• Customer service: Vending is a customer oriented business. You exist as long as you are able to satisfy your customer. Once your customer is upset with the kind of service he receives, he will never visit you and at the same time stop others from visiting you. Word of mouth plays a key role in this industry.

• Maintenance: Good looking machines can attract customers. Ensure your machine is clean, regularly serviced and is in proper working condition. In case of breakdown, try to resolve the issue at the earliest. One sec of time wasted leads to break in your revenue.

• Gifts and coupons: Use advertising strategies like special gifts and coupons. These not only draw customers towards you but also advertise the products you sell.

• Inventory: Ensure you machine has sufficient inventory stock in it. Make sure no customer returns empty handed after visiting your machine due to lack of stock.

• Latest products: Customers like to try out new products that have been introduced in the market. Try to introduce such products in your machine. If their demand fades, you can replace them with your previous products.

These if properly implemented can bring smiles on your customers face and happy customers leads to successful business. For information on starting your own vending business, get in touch with Planet Antares staff and get complete insight about the vending industry.

How to Improve Customer Satisfaction Level

The establishment of a vending business chiefly depends on location for vending machine placement and product selected for vending operations. Once you have the perfect location then the focus should be on stocking products and attaining total customer satisfaction. A vending operator’s success depends upon the customer satisfaction level he is able to achieve. Providing good quality products and services are the only way by which a good customer satisfaction level can be achieved. For a fruitful business it is important to satisfy your customers’ needs. Here are few tips to improve the customer satisfaction level:

1) Quality Products: An operator should always provide better products to its customers as compared to its competitors. Quality products always attract new customers and also help in retaining a regular client.

2) Attractive Offers: To attract new customers an operator should keep introducing nice and attractive offers time to time.

3) Working on Feedbacks: It is very important to keep working on the feedbacks regularly. This practice can help in providing better services to the customers and can help achieving a good level in client satisfaction.

4) Surveying Regularly: By doing regular surveys you can easily understand what do your customers like and need. If whatever they want and need is provided, it becomes easier to attain a good customer satisfaction level that can help you in increasing your profits.

5) Fault Free Vending Machine: It is important to have a fault free vending machine installed. It is advised to buy a brand new vending machine and as a vending operator you should never purchase old or refurbished vending machine. Fault free vending machine ensures no trouble to customer. With a faulty vending machine, you will surely lose your vending customers.

Any business is dependant on its customers. By following these few strategies it becomes easier to provide better services to the customers that help in achieving good revenues.

Growth Perspective in Planet Antares Business

The vending business is one of the most rapidly increasing businesses in the US. The growth of vending business can be imagined through its sales that touched $40 Billion mark in the year 2007, and the business has grown ever since. Over the past two decades vending has proved to be one of the most revenue generating business, even in the shorter run.

The demand of beverages and fast food (Snacks) has increased swiftly in the recent past because of the changing lifestyle and varied odd office hours, and is increasing day by day. To meet all requirements and demands, vending machine manufacturing is also increasing with the same ratio. These machines are time saving; easy to use; round the clock available; provide fresh, hygienic and healthy food, offer more refreshment choices, and these features make vending machines so popular. These machines have successfully established themselves in the market.

Growth and profit perspectives have become brighter in the vending machine business. Vending business has grown, in terms of technology, product choice and services that have increased the chances of more earnings in the business. With evolution of the vending industry many machines have been invented time to time to meet the requirements of the customers and distributors. From holy water vending till now everyone has witnessed growth in the industry. Vending machines from Planet Antares have changed from single product vending to machines with high capacities, which enable them to house and vend a large number of products.

Product and location selection are the vital factors responsible for the growth of a vending business. In vending business you are bound to get revenue, and growth is definite if the selection of place and product are appropriate. Making this step right, there’s no possibility of a downfall in your vending business.

The vending industry is steadily progressing, and one of the main reasons for this is technology. The changes that have occurred have not only made vending more effective but also more convenient. This leads to a pleasant experience by customers, and a larger profit to the distributors eventually enhancing your growth.

Healthy Products in Vending Machines

The satisfaction that customers get from vending operators in terms of quality products is one of the reasons of increasing popularity of vending business these days. And for an increase in sales, vending operators must make sure that the best is delivered to their customers. Vending machines are very popular among people who want a quick break from their hectic schedule or the ones who look for fast, easy and a delicious meal. So to provide delicacies that are healthy in all values, it becomes the responsibility of the vending operator to maintain quality of the products they vend in their vending machines.

Sanitation, hygiene and freshness of a product are few factors that make a customer stopover at the same vending machine again and again. For increasing the sales and to retain a customer, it becomes very important for the vending machine operators to take care of the following steps:

Sanitation: Operators must ensure cleanliness of the machine. Along with cleanliness, maintenance of sanitation near the vending machine becomes equally important for the vending operators for an enhanced sale of their products. An operator must check, identify and rectify problems like seepage, sewerage near the machine, overhead condensation and dispersing off wastage or residue. A neat and clean machine may attract a lot of customers.

Stock: The machine must be loaded with sufficient stock time to time to meet the requirements of the customers. It is essential to keep stock of quality products for better sales. An adequate amount of stock enables the customer to get his required stuff and reduces the chances of any customer going empty handed.

Freshness: It is a vital part of the vending business to make sure that the products stocked in the vending machine are fresh and not obsolete. Operators must regularly check expiry dates of the products and take care that the expired goods are replaced with the fresh ones immediately. In fact they should even replace the one that is not in demand.

Apart from these, maintaining levels of temperature for particular products and to ensure a power back up are some of the other important steps necessary for better working of your vending business. Few actions like satisfactory service, quality products and proper attention towards sanitation and stock, can help in the success of vending business, but are ignored often by the vending operators leading to a downfall in their business.

Advantages with Planet Antares Vending

Though Planet Antares has many feathers to its cap including being the only patent pending product manufacturer for ‘Office Deli’, the biggest advantage of starting your business with Planet Antares is that it is one of the leading and the most trustworthy vending companies in US. Since it’s inception in the year 1987 the company has grown to capture the top position in the industry and has maintained it ever since. Over the past decades into the vending machine business, the company has invented some of the best vending machines, the latest being ‘Office Deli’.

Planet Antares provides contemporary vending machine solutions to vending operators and has distributors’ network spread across the country. Some of the features of Planet Antares vending machines are that Planet Antares vending machines are robust and compact and come in attractive and lively colors. Planet Antares machines are contemporary which are equipped with the latest features and are loaded with state-of-the-art technology. The vending machines manufactured by Planet Antares can be used to vend multiple products—Liquid or solid. But apart from these features some of the advantages that make Planet Antares stand poles apart from other vending machine manufacturers are that Planet Antares ensures that their vending operators generate higher revenues by providing them complete guidance. And if the vending operators face any problems Planet Antares’ personal coach is there to tackle and suggest solutions to the problems.

With outstanding ratings from Dunn & Bradstreet, Planet Antares is a world-class organization. Apart from being a world-class organization, with over $500,000,000 in equipment and services sold, Planet Antares, is one of the largest and the most successful business opportunities in the United States and Canada. With a vast experience of more than 20 years into the vending business, thousands of distributors have been placed successfully in these places.

Starting up a business with Planet Antares is definitely an advantage in itself. With a wider vision, better knowledge and contemporary vending machines Planet Antares is definitely the best choice to begin and establish your vending business.

Vending An All Time Favourite Business

Most of you might not be aware of the fact that Vending has a very long history. The very first vending machine was invented 215 BC by a Greek Mathematician. This machine was used for dispensing holy water in Egyptian temples. As people started accepting these machines, commercial coin operated machines were introduced. This was sometime in 1880’s in London and this machine was used to sell post cards. This was just the beginning and thenceforth there was no looking back for this industry.

More and more entrepreneurs are lured towards this business because of the guaranteed returns it promises. Operators are even prepared to invest any amount of money in order to harvest huge returns. Some of the benefits of this business are discussed below:

• Vending is perhaps the only business that allows you to earn money right from the day of installing your machine.

• This is not a business that is influenced by seasonal variation. You have almost the same demand throughout the year. So operators need not worry about season and off season.

• Starting a vending business is very easy. It does not demand specialised skills or huge floor space for installing the machine.

• In a vending business, most of the promotion is carried through word of mouth and hence operators need not spend money on taking up promotional activities. In case you vend branded products then you need not worry since these products are popular across the globe and their sales happen automatically.

• There are no set working hours and operators can work at their own convenience.

• You need not employ any sales personnel, no need for any franchise fee, no royalties and there are no set boundaries on the market for operating your business.

• Profit margins are very high in this business.

• An operator can expand his business without taking any loans and advances by reinvesting the returns on his existing machine.

All these benefits are prime reasons behind increasing demand for this business.

How To Start a good Vending Business?

Choosing the right vending machine is quite a challenging task for any vending operator. Several misguiding advertisements and false commitments make this job even more complicated. Apart from price and model, choice of vending machine is influenced by several other factors like product you would like to vend, target audience and many others.

First and foremost step while starting any business is market research. A thorough market research helps the operator to understand present market scenario, scope for new entrants, latest products, customer tastes and preferences and products with maximum demand. All this information helps in formulating a perfect business strategy. Planet Antares can be of great help while you are researching about this. Planet Antares staff can provide you with detailed view of how the vending business works and can also show some case studies of people who have grown in this business.

Once you understand what customers are looking for, you can decide on the product you would like to vend depending on your target audience. If you are targeting kids, then choose products like chocolates, ice creams, pizzas, plastic toys etc that can draw attention of kids.

After you have identified the product you would like to vend, decide on the kind of machine you would like to use. These days a variety of machines are available in the market which are capable of vending more than two products at a time. So, depending upon you requirement, you can select the machine.

Whatever kind of machine you purchase, make sure that you go for a new and latest one. If money is your prime concern, then you can go for used or refurbished vending machine. However, the efficiency and performance of a new machine is far more than a used one. Location is another key factor that influences the success or failure of your business. So, make sure you find a location that has maximum customer traffic.

If in any case you are unable to identify the most potential location for your machine all by your self, then you can take the help of Planet Antares staff. Planet Antares will not only help you in choosing vending location but also take you through the entire process and also assist you in times of emergency.

All these steps if followed carefully can help you not only in starting a vending business but also run it successfully.

Perfect Product Mix

We often talk about the importance of product mix, right product mix etc. What exactly is this product mix? In layman terms, product mix is the sum total of all the product items and its variants offered by an organisation. An appropriate product mix will can not only keep your customers satisfied but also provoke them in repeat purchasing.

There are few items which are not at all influenced by changes in the market or introduction of new items. Operators must make sure that they offer these products in order to have continuous sales and maximise profits over a period of time. Operators also need to rotate the products offered from time to time. This is known as category management. This helps in offering a wide variety of products to customers and thereby gains their attention.

Category management simplifies product selection at warehouse and thus makes sure that operators have complete control over the entire process. Operators can also control costs and mobilise resources successfully. This process when implemented in your business allows you to reap huge profits and save immensely. The three main areas where such savings are possible are:

• Category management is successful in reducing number of stock keeping units at the warehouse. Hence you need to invest only little amount in purchasing stock.

• Because of close monitoring efficiency and performance of route drivers and warehouse labourers increases. Thus overall profitability increases.

• A good product mix will ensure higher sales and profitability from different vending locations.

The main aim of implementing this process is to select fast moving products for your vending machines. Once you stock your machine with these products your sales will automatically pick up. This is also effective in reducing your investment in inventory. It has been observed that category management has succeeded in reducing inventory cost by 40%.

So what else are you waiting for, choose the perfect product mix and reap huge benefits.

Importance Of Cleanliness In Vending Machine

Timely servicing and proper cleaning of vending machine is essential part of vending operations. Though they may sound to be very simple and easy, not everyone is capable of performing these functions. These need a lot of practice and can be learned over a period of time.

The National Merchandising Association has come up with a book that guides route drivers on how to be professional in vending operations. If you are an operator who is vending food, the way you present it will definitely impact the success of your business. In food vending business, several personnel are appointed to handle food, cups and other material required right from the time of production till they reach the vending machine. In such a situation, food should be handled properly and thoroughly cleaned.

Improper maintenance and cleaning may lead to bacterial growth thus leading to spread of diseases or chemical poisoning. All this would drastically affect the business and create bad publicity in the market and thus lead to customer rejection. All of us are drawn by clean, attractive and well maintained vending machines. In fact, we would look for these features whenever we purchase products from a vending machine.

Operator should also see to it that the truck used for transporting food to vending machine is also kept neat and tidy. There are predetermined temperatures at which food needs to be stored. For instance in case of cold food, 41 degree Fahrenheit or lower temperature is required and hot foods need to be maintained at 140 degree Fahrenheit or above. The operator must be aware of these requirements and see to it that they are being properly implemented.

Another important thing to be noted here is that vending machines should always be maintained at right temperatures. This prevents food from getting spoiled. It is the prime responsibility of a vending operator to ensure that only quality food is being vended from their machines. This will keep your customers happy and healthy at all times. And satisfied customers can boost your sales thereby making vending a successful business.

Advanced Vending Solutions

Vending industry has seen a lot of changes. Right from coin operated machines to those that work on the swipe of a card. All these have evolved due to technology advancements. We need to keep pace with changes in order to survive.

Initially vending operators used to manually collect information related to various aspects of their business. This data was mostly inaccurate and thus pose a big challenge to operators. Vending operators had no other option but to rely on route personnel for collecting data related to sales, cash and inventory. This process was not only time consuming but also produced inaccurate results. All this paved way to introduction of vending software solutions. These were specifically designed to gather and analyse information relating to vending operations.

This new software made vending business much easy and simple. Using this technology, operators can not only track performance of their machines but also analyze the data. All this software has empowered operators to plan their activities in advance.

Software becomes essential as the size of business increases. Lack of proper tracking systems can make the entire business unorganised and messy. The data thus collected provides insights into the following:

• How often you need to refill your machines.

• Identify slow moving products or those with least demand.

• Which products have maximum demand?

• Identify customer tastes and preferences.

Use of advanced technology helps in running your business profitably. These machines with latest features and technology can increase your sales by drawing more customers and they can also withstand competition. Survival of the fittest is the modern mantra of vending industry. If you do not up date yourself with latest changes, then you would be washed away by severe competition. So, adopt latest technology and create an unique identity for yourself in this business world.