Not so long ago vending machines were a rarity. It was scattered around town and usually it was located in public buildings or venues were people normally had to wait. To say the least, vending machine owners or operators were not very professional – stock were not fresh all the time, stock were not regularly filled up and most frustrating, the coin mechanisms were not always state of the art. The result was that most vending machines were most of the time out of order – or kicked out of order!
But with the turn of the century vending machines became more appreciated and with the boom in small businesses, the vending machine business also took its place as a viable business opportunity with potential as a money maker with small overhead costs. With a small investment vending machines make for a great business and provide nice incomes in no time. No staff required!
But before everyone jump on the bandwagon. As with any business venture or money making opportunity, there are pros and cons. Vending machines need not only be attractive to sell; vending machines also need to be located at the right places. You cannot just go out and place your machine – no, like any business you need to negotiate for fair rent. Nothing is for free – you must also pay for renting the space your machine is taking up. Usually it is a certain percentage of sales. Then there is the problem of particular products will be more likely to sell out. You don’t just place vending machines on different locations. There should be a good marketing strategy to make it work –which products will be good sellers and which ones not. Many people think that knowing where a good location for a vending machine is and what particular product should be sold is pretty much common sense. Don’t be disillusioned but to be absolutely spot on with you’re your products for your machines; you should be updated on human behaviour and habits.
It is important to know that a significant amount of sales from snack vending machines come from impulse buyers. Impulse buyers are those who aren’t looking for nor need a particular product at the moment but, out of pure impulse, buy products that they see. They buy these products just because they are there and they can. This aspect of human behaviour should play a vital role where to place your machines. Combined with this “buying on impulse” human behaviour, strengthen it with boredom. Believe it or, people buy things, especially snacks on impulse and when they are bored from snack vending machines. So look for venues where there would be foot traffic and people would be bored, for instance in waiting rooms in public buildings.
A good location to place snack vending machines is a place where people are likely to stop. People who stop at places have the tendency to buy something that they don’t really need or just see from a distance, so such places would be great for snack vending machines. The places that fit this description are camping areas, gas stations, train stations, bus stops, motels, bus terminals, etc.
Very important, the appearance of snack vending machines will be the key to its success. Snack vending machines must be bright colours and consumer friendly. With consumer friendly it includes an easy to follow manual, a problem-free money mechanism and a problem- free dispenser for the snacks. And yes, a guarantee that snacks is daily fresh.
Snack vending machines can be either rented or purchased. It is usually much cheaper to rent snack vending machines but new ones don’t come very expensive and if you are successful, you could pay it of in one year’s time. You can also go for used snack vending machines. Letting aside the price advantages for this option you can find that many companies that sell used machines offer a reasonable payment plan and even guarantees that their machines will work without any problems.
The main thing is snack vending machines are a business on its own. Do not think in the line of only one. You must have various machines in various locations and as with any business; you would need a reasonable start up capital. The other important matter is that you should be hands-on with such a business. All the machines should be visited daily to see if they are sufficiently stocked and whether it is still working.
It is a profitable business venture (if you manage it correctly!) so go for it. Like any new business venture, start at the beginning, with a comprehensive business plan, whether you are going to fund it yourself or not.
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