by A&M Team | Jun 15, 2020 | Research, Start A Vending Machine Business, Vending Tips
The vending business is attractive to many entrepreneurs because it creates a mostly passive income. You gain the freedom to do the things you love while the machine works for you. But really, it’s not as simple as it sounds. Creating a profitable vending machine business requires a lot of thought and work, especially when identifying a good location.
When looking for ideal vending machine locations, you’ll want to consider not only the location but also your target customers. Are you targeting school-going children or adults checking in and out of the gym? Whichever your target market, ensure that you go for a spot with significant foot traffic.
Steps to Finding the Best Vending Machine Locations
1. Do Some Preliminary Research
Identify potential spots and get a feel of the most common traffic in that area. What kind of products could go well with that location? Are there other options available such as a convenience store or another vending machine?
2. Identify What You’ll Be Vending
Depending on the locations you’ve identified, you’ll want to identify the type of products you’ll be selling. Some of the things to consider include the product’s cost, shelf life, and profit margins.
3. Choose The A Location That Is A Good Fit For Your Business
From the already identified potential spots and the possible product(s) that most appeals to your target market, you can now go for the location that will be the best fit. Some of the qualities to look out for in an ideal spot are:
- High traffic: An area with high foot traffic such as train stations, airports, shopping malls, schools, event centers, and government buildings are suitable for a vending business.
- A spot with no existing vending machines and other competing companies
- An area where people have to wait or line up for services is also an excellent option for vending machine businesses. These include repair shops, medical centers, salons, public libraries, and even hospitals.
4. Draft A Proposal And Approach The Property Or Business Owner
Once you’ve identified your most qualified spots, you’ll want to prepare a proposal outlining how the vending machine will be a game-changer in that location.
Even if your preferred location has an already existing vending machine, you can find something different to offer that the property owner may like. You can also identify how you can out-compete other existing vending businesses by providing superior services and offerings.
Remember: Value proposition = location acquisition
When pitching your business to the property or business owner, be sure to outline how your business will also add value to their business. For instance, placing a vending machine in or around a hotel or motel can help keep their customers refreshed throughout their stay without needing to drive or walk so far away for refreshments.
Best Vending Machine Locations That You Should Consider
Are you looking for a great vending machine location but are unsure if you’ve found the right spot? Here are a few popular options to install a vending machine:
1. Apartment Communities
An apartment complex with popular amenities such as a pool, laundry room, gym, party room, or a clubhouse is an ideal location for a wide variety of snack and food vending machines. These areas have a flurry of activities and are usually highly trafficked by the members of that community.
2. Hotels and Motels
Look for motels and hotels that don’t have micro-markets and request to install a vending machine on their lobby or side entrances.
3. Gyms
Gyms are a great option to vend healthy products such as shakes, protein bars, and sports drinks.
4. Manufacturing facilities with lots of employees
Due to the consistent flow in these facilities, you can pitch to vend cold drinks and snacks to the hundreds of people working in the facility.
5. Schools, community colleges and universities
Schools have tremendous foot traffic that you can leverage to sell healthy, child-friendly beverages, snacks, and meals.
6. Auto Shops
This is one of the low-key areas that is mostly ignored. Yet, auto shops have hundreds of customers who have to wait to have their cars fixed. Having a vending machine nearby can be a great reprieve and make the wait more tolerable.
7. Hospitals and medical facilities
Hospitals and other health facilities have traffic flowing throughout the day and night. Having a vending machine that offers meals, beverages, and snack choices not only generates you passive income but also provides a convenient solution to visitors, patients, and health personnel working in the hospital.
Other excellent vending machine locations include:
- Skateboard Shops
- Grocery stores
- Laundromat
- Golf Course Lounge
- Bank
- Zoo
- Warehouse
- Assisted living center
Putting It All Together
The success of a vending machine majorly depends on its location. Identifying and getting a fit-for-business location will place you ahead of the curve, help you generate significant passive income and allow you to scale up over time.
Once you’ve identified a good location for your business, ensure that you also choose vending products that fit well with your target customers. Most importantly, don’t forget to offer exceptional customer service to help differentiate you from other vending businesses and carve out a loyal market for yourself.
by Abco | Apr 9, 2013 | Research, Vending News
This year’s Best Vending Machine Products is
The winners of the Automatic Merchandiser’s Readers Choice Awards
for “Products of the Year” were recently announced in a number of categories. Winners for new products of the year include:
- Cookie category – LLC’s RUGER® Strawberry Wafers
- Candy category – DOVE® Silky Smooth Cookies and Creme bar
- Food category – Pierre Drive Thru™ Deluxe sandwich
- Snack category – Kellogg’s Special K® Cracker Chips
- Cold beverage category – Nestlé Sweet Leaf Tea
- Hot beverage category – Barista Prima Coffeehouse® Vanilla Latte Café Beverage
- Pastry category – Mrs. Freshley’s Cinnabon® Honey Bun
Learn the winners of micro markets, all-natural healthy, and OCS categories at VendingMarketWatch
Best Vending Machine Products are the cookie category winner, RUGER®, LLC’s RUGER® Strawberry Wafers, is served in multi-functional pouches perfect for traditional vending or micro markets, as is the Best Vending Machine Products diverse packaging sizes of the candy category winner Mars Chocolate North America DOVE® Brand Silky Smooth Cookies and Crème bar. The Best Vending Machine Products in food category winner, AdvancePierre Foods Pierre Drive Thru™ Deluxe sandwich, fits the growing micro market trend by offering restaurant-style food.
Wellness focused, the Best Vending Machine Products snack category winner, Kellogg’s® Special K® Cracker Chips is regarded as a healthy choice snack low in sodium and calories. In addition, the cold beverage category winner, Nestlé Sweet Leaf Tea, is viewed as a healthy beverage alternative, made with pure cane sugar and no high-fructose corn syrup.
Consistent with the demand for café-quality office coffee, the Best Vending Machine Products is Barista Prima Coffeehouse® Vanilla Latte Café Beverage for the Keurig® Vue® system, has won the hot beverage category.
The last category is representative of a consumer favorite Best Vending Machine Products — Mrs. Freshley’s® Cinnabon® Honey Bunwhich won in this year’s pastry category.
by Abco | Jan 15, 2013 | Research, Vending News
US Consumers Eat Snacks Not Meals The Hartman group has completed a recent consumer survey on eating habits and found that among US consumers in 2012, more than half of all eating occasions were snacks on a daily basis.
US Consumers Eat Snacks Not Meals More consumers said they considered eating smaller meals more frequently to be healthier and that snacking helps to bridge the gap between meals.
Although most said snacks need to be healthy, chips and soda topped the list for consumers who snack.
If you are in the consumer snacks business, how have you found this research to pan out in your business?More Vending Videos School Vending Machines Have A Healthy Option
Learn more: Survey: Consumers Snack More Than They Dine
by Abco | Dec 28, 2012 | Research, Technology, Vending News
Energy Saving Vending Machine Coca Cola Japan has announced what they call the peak shift vending machine. It shifts the use of power from the peak daytime hours to the nighttime to reduce the strain on the power supply. In the summer, the machines can produce cooled products for 16 hours and at the same time reduce daytime power consumption by 95%.
Energy Saving Vending Machine Pretty impressive. This machine hasn’t launched yet and it’s unclear whether Coca-Cola will bring this technology to the US. You are listening to the Vending Business Show Energy Saving Vending Machine More interesting Blogs Take Over A Vending Route Or Start Your Own?
Read more: https://www.vendingmarketwatch.com/news/10833583/coca-cola-japan-launches-power-shifting-energy-saving-vending-machine
Coca-Cola (Japan) Co., Ltd. recently announced what it called the most innovative vending machine in these past 50 years, “peak shift vending machines.” The peak shift vending machine shifts the use of power for cooling from the general daytime peak demand period to nighttime, when relatively less strain is placed on the power supply. In summer, these machines can provide cooled products for 16 hours while reducing daytime power consumption by 95 percent. Power consumption is also reduced in winter by 20 percent compared to current vending machines and, combined with power consumed for cooling, these vending machines are a global forerunner that can reduce power consumption by 68 percent, according to the company.
by Abco | Sep 18, 2012 | Machines, Research, Technology
Youth Market and Vending Machines Food and Drink Digital interviewed Michael L. Kasavana, Ph.D., who is a NAMA-endowed professor at Michigan State University’s School of Hospitality Business on the topic of the youth market.
Youth Market and Vending Machines Kasavana says a major trend is enhancement of the consumer interface and for vending machines that means a more interactive transaction – one that youth who shop and play games online are used to including payment options available online. “Why can’t you do that at a vending machine?”
Another trend is the products being sold are no longer traditional, but moving toward non-traditional items like energy drinks, trail mixes, things perceived to be more healthy.
Youth Market and Vending Machines Also product information like nutritional content. The younger generation is watching what they eat. Vending machine manufacturers will soon be required to project the food manufacturer’s nutrition label like you see on most packages. USA Technologies already has a screen that will retrofit on the vending machine that shows nutritional content. It is also a credit card reader. For more information on Usa Technologies USA TECHNOLOGIES ePORT G9 You are watching the Vending Business show at A&M Vending Machine Sales. For more videos you can go to www.ameqquipmentsales.com and go to vending business blogs. Over one hundred vending blogs available.
Read more: Capturing the Youth Market with Vending Machines
More exciting videos How to Start a Snack Machine Business
by Abco | Sep 4, 2012 | Research, Technology
How Vending Operators Can Leverage Technology
Are you curious how you, the vending operator, can leverage technology into your vending business? There was standing room only at the 2012 NAMA OneShow in Las Vegas to hear the four panelists explain where things are going.
Chuck Reed, of MEI: “If your machines can take only $1 bills, you’re missing sales.” Currently, cash is used for 50% of small transactions; debit and credit combined represent about 30%. “You can’t force a patron to use one or the other.”
MEI is the industry leader in providing bill recyclers, a device that accepts larger bill denominations and utilizes $1 bills to replenish a reserve. Studies have shown that bill recyclers increase sales per vending machine.
Anant Agrawal of Cantaloupe Systems: “The Cantaloupe Systems principal envisions a not-so-distant future in which someone can tell his or her smartphone, ‘I want a Mountain Dew,’ and the instrument will display vending machines and other retail outlets in the vicinity. The thirsty consumer will go to the nearest machine, tap the phone on the card reader, and receive the drink — plus loyalty points and a discount on a Frito-Lay snack.” All this new technology will make it easier for the vending operator.
Michael Lawlor of USA Technologies: USA Technologies maintains a knowledge base that keeps track of overall card sales through ePort-equipped vending machines. Michael said 21% of card sales were for products costing less than $1, and 34% for items priced above $2. He recommends that operators need to raise vend prices, he predicted that consumers are more likely to choose the cashless option for higher-ticket sales if that option is available to them.
Chris Lilly of Best Vendors and chairs NAMA’s Vending Data Interchange Committee: “Most of you are not software engineers,” Lilly said, “but you want your systems to work together, to pass ‘messages’ back and forth.” The VDI standards describe protocols for those systems.
Read more: Leveraging Technology – Part 2: Cashless Options Multiply, Interoperability Advances
