Planet Antares Vending | Planet Antares

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

How To Choose Products For Vending Machines.

Filling up right products in vending machine is very important. While choosing products for a vending machine, some of the factors that you should consider are:

Product demand
Of course, the first criteria for product selection is the demand of a particular product in the region. Higher the demand, more likely is it to sell. To make the right decision, you should gather data pertaining to sales of a product for last 2 months in the region. You can also choose a product that is being extensively marketed by manufacturing company in the region. Marketing by product manufacturing companies is bound to create awareness and liking for that product among customers thereby making the product more desirable.

Profit margins
While choosing products for your vending machine, you should consider the potential profit margins that different products may have to offer. You can compare the cost price with the revenue that you expect to generate by selling them off. It is quite possible that you can get a promotional deal or discount while purchasing products for your vending machines. A little negotiation can always make a difference of 5 to 10 % in initial cost.

Shelf life of products
Products that you choose should have a longer shelf life. You should take off products from your vending machine before the shelf life expires. Typically, candies have a shelf life of one year. The softer ones like chocolates and nuts have a shorter shelf life. If you can strike a deal with the product distributor/ manufacturer to take back or replace the products with expired shelf life that can be great. So try to negotiate on that while purchasing products.

Possible storage quantity
Keeping in mind the storage capacity of your vending machine, you should choose the products. If you can store just a few packs, you will have to refill the machine at short intervals. While choosing the products, you can choose products which can be stored in significant quantity so that you don’t have to spend time and effort in refilling the machine at small intervals of time.

Customer feedback
Customer feedback and surveys can also provide a lot of information about product popularity among customers. Based on feedback, you can change the products placed in vending machines.

Location of vending machine
Location of vending machine plays a big role in products choice. E.g. stocking a vending machine with health drinks in front of a pub or stocking cigarettes around a health club will be a definite disaster. Yeah, if you place cigarettes in front of a pub and health drinks in a gym, your vending machines are bound to do good business. So depending on the location of vending machine, you will have to be careful about the products you choose.

Branded products
People can relate themselves readily with the branded products. Manufacturing companies spend millions in promoting branded products nationwide; this is a free marketing for your vending business. People readily accept branded products in comparison to non-branded local products. So it is advised to go in for branded products.

Whatever products you choose, you can vend them through remarkable Planet Antares vending machines. Planet Antares not only provides latest vending machines but also provide necessary coaching to run your vending business successfully.

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