Planet Antares | Planet Antares Inc | Planet Antares Vending

A blog to discuss vending solutions provided by Planet Antares Inc

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Role Pricing In Vending Industry

Apart from promotion and location, pricing is one of the most important marketing strategies. In today’s competitive world, marketers should price their products in such a fashion that it not only withstands competition but also helps in earning huge returns. Pricing strategies include those arbitrations that are aimed at increasing the sales or consumption of healthy food among consumers.

Fixing an appropriate price is one of the most confusing parts for any operator. Customers want more products and better service at lowest possible prices. While operators have to consider the rising prices of raw material and labour cost before setting prices. Even the cost of food products is on the rise. To tackle the rising prices operators needs to identify and cut down on unnecessary costs. They can also choose to negotiate with supplier or can simply shift on to similar alternatives

To cut down costs, telemetry can be quite helpful. This technology enables operators to monitor their machines, provide operators with information related to product movement, cash inventory and working condition of their equipment. This valuable information becomes handy in effectively managing their routes and take proactive measures in servicing and maintaining their machines. There is probably no other better vending technology application that offers greater scope for return on investment other than remote monitoring.

Vending operators use telemetry to access information from their vending machines related to sales or financial transactions or machine maintenance. This information helps them in understanding the loopholes in the business and thereby rectifying them.

Impact of pricing on sales:

It is clearly evident that reduced prices are effective in increasing sales. As in most cases, price reduction directly responds to increased sales. However, discount coupons which have been introduced have also proved to be successful in increasing sales. Pricing incentives in combination with other strategies such as labelling may increase the effectiveness of this strategy.

Thus by being little cautious while fixing prices of products, operators can enhance their sales and simultaneously earn huge profits. Planet Antares is one company that guides operators with tips and tricks on cutting down costs. The vending machines manufactured by Planet Antares are energy efficient machines designed for long life.

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Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Vending Industry Overview

Vending is a multi billion dollar industry. Customer’s spending power and business growth has influenced demand for products. As the number of vending operators is increasing by the day, their success is determined by effective merchandising, prompt servicing and maintenance and choosing prime locations for setting up vending machines.

Vending operators usually compete with restaurants, coffee shops, grocery and convenience stores and establishments that provide food and beverages. Generally small operators cater to local markets while the large operators offer wide range of products to customers for selection and benefit in purchasing, financing and distribution.

Of the total products sold using vending machines, beverages form the major chunk (40%) while candy bars and snacks comprise 30%. Other products sold include meals, ice creams and cigarettes. Vending operators have also come up with office snacks services and are providing variety of products. With compact vending machines becoming a huge success, more and more locations are opting for them.

Most operators set up multiple machines at various locations known as route. Either you or an employee can travel to each location and check on sales, stock availability, provide service and maintenance and finally collect money from each machine. It is surprising to know that nearly three fourths of vending operators earn nothing less than one million per year. WOW!

Based on the kind of product to be sold, operators have the choice of selecting either a cold vending machine or a glass front vending machine. Cold vending machines can dispense items that require refrigeration like ice creams, soft drinks etc. Some vending machines are also capable selling multiple products at the same time. Glass front machines on the other hand are used to sell products which customers would want to see before they purchase.

Business establishments rent out space in areas with heavy foot fall to place their machines. While offices are the most common places for placing vending machines, they are also found in retail centres, hotels, hospitals and schools. Vending operators purchase inventories from various sources. Large companies usually buy directly from manufacturers while small companies purchase products from retailers. However small or big your business is, establishing the right product mix can make it very successful and maximize your sales.

To know how to be successful in vending and to find out tips and tricks of the trade, you should contact Planet Antares, They have a unique support program where they assist vending operators with fine tuning their operations to generate huge profits.

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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Effective Vending Route Planning

One success secret of vending business is its location. Finding the most suitable location for setting up vending machine is one of the important marketing strategies. Always prefer vending routes in near by areas for convenience.

It is crucial for vending operator to complete one round of vending route in a day. Every time the operator makes rounds, he can restock the machine, provide servicing and also collect money. Vending operators generally place their machines at different locations and it is important that they plan their route in such a way that they would be able to cover all the machines and thus save time.

Regular monitoring of sites helps in knowing if machines are running out of stock. The most organised way of running a vending route involves the following steps:

• Order stock: Stocks should be order regularly say once in a week or once in a month depending on its necessity.
• The most effective way to execute a vending route is by visiting the farthest place first and later visit nearby places.
• Learn how to fix minor faults of a machine. In case you come across a broken machine while you are on your regular checks, you can fix it yourself. This helps you in saving time and money.
• Open bank account: Vending is a complete cash business. Ever time the operator collects cash; he has to deposit it in an account on a regular basis.
• Tally accounts: Operator has to cross check the cash flow versus the inventory sold. This helps in identifying pilferage if any.
• Fresh inventory: Machines have to be restocked with fresh inventory as and when needed.
• Adhering to this process strictly will help an operator to service 25 locations in a day.

A satisfied customer propagates more about your business through word of mouth. No other advertising tools work as efficiently as a satisfied customer. So ensure your customers are hundred percent satisfied with the kind of services rendered by you.

If you are planning to buy vending machines, you should try vending machines manufactured by Planet Antares. Planet Antares manufactures robust vending machines for smooth operations through years. They are attractive and you can stock multiple products in it.

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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Vending machine location- vital for your business

Wondering which business to take up? Why don’t you consider being a Vending operator? Yes, being into vending business is one of the most promising businesses that requires low capital and at the same time ensures of guaranteed instant revenue. Vending machines were initially used for selected products only, but with modernization and technological advancements, these are used to vend almost all products.

“4P’s” (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) play a crucial role in vending business. Before establishing a vending business, necessary ground work is to be done before finalizing the product you want to vend. This is important because the nature of the product would determine the kind of vending machine that is to be used. The next most important thing that is to be considered is the location. Location determines the volume of business. If the product you chose is targeted at kids, then vending machine should be located in such a place where there is high accessibility for kids. For instance if you want to vend gumball or candy machines, they need to be located in places where the foot fall of children is high.

There are few factors that need to be considered while selecting most appropriate location:

• Visibility: Is your vending machine visible or is it located in a corner. A clearly visible vending machine will automatically attract customers towards it.

• Footfall: If you have set up a candy vending machine targeting kids, you should also ensure that the number of kids visiting that place is high. There is no point in setting up a candy machine in a place that is hardly visited by kids.

• Reach: Reach or proximity is also important in generating revenue. If a gumball machine is set up from a place that is pretty far away from children play area or schools, there is no use.

• Competitors: You should also find out if some other vending machines are already installed in that. If so, is there a need to install another machine. This also needs some consideration.

• Target audience: Who are your target audience? Children, middle aged individuals or old people. Your vending machines need to be designed in such a way that they can attract the targeted group. For instance, if you are targeting kids, you can stick some interesting tattoos or have some graphics introduced into the machines. This will definitely grab their attention.

Having realized the importance of location, do not panic if you do not have enough time to select a place for yourself. Just contact Planet Antares professionals for guidance on location selection.
Planet Antares manufactures modern vending machines ideally suited to vend all kind of products. They also provide necessary information to set up vending business from scratch.

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Friday, September 4, 2009

Shop On The Go With Planet Antares Vending Machines.

Vending machines are a great source to shop on the go. Modern vending machines are equipped to vend not only snacks and drinks but they can be used to vend practically anything. Ease of operating a vending machine makes them quite popular among customers. Planet Antares vending machines are versatile to suit ideally any location.

Vending machines manufactured by Planet Antares works pretty well at locations with high traffic. They can be ideally placed at:-

- Next To Entrances and Exits

- Waiting Areas

- Bus Terminals

- Sub Ways

- Gas Stations

In US, vending machines are popular for vending products like snacks, beverages, newspapers, toys etc. Vending operators are now looking to stock other daily use products in vending machines. in Japan, vending machine usage is even more popular. Vending operators in Japan are vending products like eggs, toilet papers, garments etc. A study showed that for every 23 people in Japan, there is one vending machine to serve them. This trend is already catching up in US and in times to come we will witness exponential growth in vending industry.

Vending is not popular only because of ease of buying products. Actually the products bought from vending machine are generally lower than what you can get from store. This is due to the fact that huge expenditure by store owners in terms of manpower, rentals, administration etc is not there in vending business.

Planet Antares Inc manufactures vending machines that are not only robust but are also attractive to be placed anywhere. Remarkable features offered by Planet Antares makes then No 1 choice among the customers and vending operators.

If you are planning to buy a new vending machine or are confused about how you can generate higher profits from your vending operations, you can contact Planet Antares Inc’s support staff. Experts from Planet Antares provide complete guidance for running and setting up a vending business.

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Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Vending on World Wide Web

No one practically starts a business without researching about it. There is hundreds of way to carry on your research and same goes with the vending business as well. Internet or World Wide Web (WWW) is the first choice of people to find information. As far as vending business is concerned, you can get all the information right from finding locations to the process of managing the vending business.

Earlier you could download E-books from different websites which include technical write ups for hardware, software and business process and investments involved. The books are generally easy to read and contain all the information that you would need in easy to read format. However with changing world, internet has changed as well and now you can view videos and read comments from people to form any opinions on the liking or disliking of products. Apart from just viewing videos, you can also find several blogs and articles directories talking about vending industries.

Planet Antares has kept pace with the changing environment and has made a lot of information available over internet for people to read and understand the vending business. You will be able to find all the Do’s and Don’ts of the vending business. If needed you can download E-books and keep reading them offline which are effective guides for start ups and prospective business owners.

Information is the key to attain success in any business and it is no different in the vending business. Vending E-books and videos will allow you to start a profitable business. For videos you might need a flash player on your system which can be installed for free and to access E-books you might need Adobe reader or Mobipocket Reader for cell phones or Microsoft Reader.

Now with all this technology in place , it is all the more easier to start your vending business and reach your goal of attaining financial freedom.

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