Identifying New Vending Locations – Planet Antares Tips

One of the unique features of vending machine business is that it has no area restrictions. A vending operator is free to start and operator his business almost in any location. 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.

Besides these, operators also need to consider visibility and accessibility to their machines while locating them. Schools, offices, shopping malls, recreation centres, parks, hospitals, health clubs are some of the most preferred locations for installing Planet Antares vending machines. How to identify a right location or which one to choose among them? These are the most common questions before every vending operator.

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. 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 hen it comes to collecting 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.

How To Deal With Vending Myths- Planet Antares Tips

With increase in number of vending operators and users, wide variety of products and services are being introduced in to the market. Hence choosing a product to be dispensed in your machine is quite challenging. Why that only few operators are is becoming successful? The answer is quite simple. As we all know vending is a customer based business. Those operators who realise this fact and offer product and services that meet customer requirements are becoming successful while others are washed away by severe competition in this industry.

Customer tastes and preferences are not standard. These keep changing with changing markets and changing times. An able operator is the one who keeps pace with customer requirements and makes modifications in the products and services he dispenses in his vending machine. Some of the common challenges faced by customers are:

There are few customers who still believe that products dispensed in vending machines are of poor quality. This is definitely a wrong notion and needs immediate attention. Operators should be able to deal with such issues in a very efficient manner. They need to educate their customers and make them believe that the best quality of products and services are being vended in their machines and that retail prices are in no way less that those found in vending machines. This is only possible when awareness is created in customers about the cheaper rates of vending products.

Today’s customers are not willing to compromise on the quality of products or services they purchase. In fact, they are even willing to spend little more in order to enjoy the benefits of high quality products. This credit goes to the stiff competition among the existing food service channels.

Every operator has to offer the best quality of products and services to sustain the competition and create good will among customers. Satisfied customers can be retained for a life time. This is the key to success for any business.

How To Identify Right Vending Location – Planet Antares tips

Vending is no doubt one of the most easiest and simple business that can be taken up by almost anyone. In fact this is the only business that does not ask for any specific skills or technical knowledge. However, success of this business is influenced to a great extent by Location in which these machines are installed.

Vending machines are generally located in high customer traffic areas like schools, shopping malls, hospitals, offices and any other place with huge customer gathering. The choice of location is in turn dependent on the kind of product you dispense and your target audience. Few tips that can help you in identifying right vending location are:

• Customer Traffic: Try to identify locations which are visited by maximum number of customers. For instance: if you are targeting kids, then try to identify places that are visited by maximum number of kids. It would be beneficial to locate your machine in schools or parks.

• Accessibility: Whenever you choose a location, make sure it is easily accessible to your target audience.

• Visibility: This is something operators need to keep in mind while locating vending machine. There should not be any problem in locating the machine. It is always better to place your machines in places where people wait for some time. For instance you can place your machines near rest rooms or entrance of a hotel or near the reception.

• Transport: You need to restock your machines at times so make sure that it is not too far from your regular vending route.

Operators can themselves identify locations. However, if you are not too sure about this, you can hire a professional locator. Operators can also use flyers for identifying locations. In fact flyers are short, informative pamphlets that spread information about your business and at the same time provides your contact details. Flyers have been proved to be the best methods for gathering information about existing operators, models used by them, products vended by them and other information that may impact the success of your business.

Vending Business Tips and Guidelines by Planet Antares

All of us start a business with the sole aim of generating profits. But is there any business that guarantees returns right from day one? Yes. Vending is the only business which guarantees returns right form the day you install your machine.

In case you are a new entrant in vending industry, it is advisable that you start on a small scale with one or two machines and gradually expand over a period of time by reinvesting the returns generated in the business. Some tips or guidelines that help you succeed in this venture are mentioned below:

• Whenever you start a business, it is always advisable to establish contacts with few people who are already in similar field of operations. This is helpful to the operator in two ways. It is helpful in stating his business quickly and also in getting some valuable suggestions related to the business.

• Due to increasing demand for vending business, several manufacturers have come up with various models of vending machines. Combo machines from Planet Antares are one amongst them. This machine is capable of selling two products at a time. For instance: one section of the machine can sell drinks while the other section sells snacks. However there is a drawback with this machine when it comes to its maintenance. These machines break down continuously leading to customer dissatisfaction. So, it is advisable to purchase a full size machine with electronic eye. These machines come with a latest feature that detects if a product has been vended or not when a purchase is made.

• This is one of the marketing strategies that helps create awareness about the product among customers and thus creates an instinct to purchase it. Choice of advertising media depends upon your scale of operations. In case you have few machines, advertising in yellow pages would be ideal. On the contrary, if you have several machines located across several places, then you can resort to advertising over the internet.

Reasons behind Huge Success of Glass Front Vending Machines

Modern men and women have been addicted to vending machines. Yes this is true. We can hardly imagine a single day in our life without the presence of a vending machine. Right from news paper to CD’s and DVD’s, vending machines are capable of dispensing all kinds of products and services.

All these developments have not resulted in one day. Vending industry has been through a lot of phases before reaching this present stage. During this journey several kinds and models of vending machines were introduced some of which succeed while others were washed away by competition.

Glass front vending machines from Planet Antares are latest entrants in vending industry when compared to coin operated or mechanical vending machines. These machines have been successful in grabbing both customer and operator attention. The set backs in earlier vending machines models have lead to the development of these trendy and spacious machines.

The major advantages of using glass front vending machines are mentioned below:

• Glass front vending machines are capable of generating more sales when compared to closed ones. The main reason being, customers can view the products they are about to purchase. This can stimulate impulsive buying.

• Glass front machines come with attractive features like LED illuminated motor, pull forward trays and refrigeration units.

• These machines are capable of selling more products in smaller shelf space when compared to the traditional drop shelf machines.

• There is more scope for customer interaction in glass front vending machine when compared to closed ones.

• Glass front vending machines come with advanced technology like electronic tracking. This prevents unnecessary wastage of stock.

• Customers have a wide variety of items to choose from.

• Glass front vending machines are best suited for vending branded products.

All these benefits are luring more and more operators towards glass front vending machines.

What Are The Advantages Of Using Vending Machines?

Modern customer is mostly preoccupied with his professional and personal affairs. In this busy schedule, he hardly has any time for standing in long queues either for purchasing goods or for paying bills. In order to provide better services and convenience to customers, vending machines have been introduced.

The most popular among these is the one in which customer can deposit money and purchase the product of his choice. The product selected will automatically be dispensed in to the slot at the bottom of the machine. Another type of machine that is mostly seen is the one where money is deposited which will unlock a door so that customer can open it and collect the product. This kind of machine is generally used for dispensing newspapers.

There are several advantages associated with vending machines. For instance: customers will be able to purchase products of their choice like drinks and snacks on their way home or office. This will save them a lot of time. Another benefit of these vending machines is that they come in all shapes and sizes which make it very easy to be placed in offices and schools. So companies need not worry about setting up huge cafeteria or other eating establishments.

Operators also get benefited from vending machines. This is the only business venture that does not require huge capital or recruitment of employees. This simple business can even be operated from your residence. Besides this operators have a huge choice when it comes to selecting machines. They can select any machine right from one that accepts only cash to other forms like machines accepting only credit cards. All this would feature would only aid in boosting up your sales.

So, wait no further and start your vending machines business now! Contact Planet Antares and get detailed information on setting up your own business.

Advantages of Outdoor Vending Machine

When we talk of vending, we are only reminded of machines situated within premises of crowded areas like shops, malls, schools, offices etc. Outdoor vending system has not gain prominence and is still under consideration. However, few operators have started experimenting with these machines by locating them outdoors. For instance: few vending machines are located in amusement parks and entertainment parks. The reason for installing these machines outdoor is because these machines generate huge sales when located outside. In spite of its advantages, location of vending machines is still restricted to indoors.

Vending machines located outdoors has its own set of benefits. The first and foremost benefit is easy visibility and wider reach. Some of the benefits are discussed below:

• Increase footage: Vending machines installed outdoors are capable of increasing footage in retail stores. This is a dual benefit of locating the machine outdoor. A customer who visits the retail store is automatically attracted towards the machine and vice versa with a customer who visits the vending machine. In both these cases, sales of both vending machine and retail stores can be boosted.

• Machines that are located outside parks have noticed that there has been an increase in the number of people visiting parks.

• National accounts of vending management companies that manage vending companies have advised vending operators to make better use of vending opportunities including outdoor sites.

The main benefit of outdoor machines over indoor ones is that operators need not face any maintenance issues or hassles with the condensers as is the case with most indoor machines. When it comes to profitability, there is a mixed reaction. Some people feel that outdoor and indoor machine generate the almost similar returns. While vending management companies are of the view that outdoor locations provide higher sales and revenue when compared to indoor ones.

However, if an operator is in lookout for new avenues, then outdoor vending deserves to be tried once. For more information on starting your own vending business contact Planet Antares staff.