Cold Drinks: The Curse of the Bottles

Cold drink beverages are one of the few product segments that repeatedly report a gain in machine placements. Cold drinks have always remained a favorite with the American population whether in cans or bottles. Antares vending machines sell canned cold drinks.

Supplier subsidized equipment and the growth of higher priced bottles over cans usually is enough to compensate for any weakened demand. But this is not always the case.

While bottles gained market share at the expense of cans, pricing of single serve bottles remained flat. This is largely because of competitive pressure from retailers, and in many cases, competition from bottlers who operate their own vending business.

While the 20 ounce bottles commanded a higher price point than the 11. 5 ounce cans, Antares vending operators quickly realized the profit margins were lower due to the competitive situation noted above. Many vending operators, including Antares operators, prefer selling cans because they were more profitable and easier for employees to work with. Consumer demand, fed by bottler driven marketing, forced the continued move to bottles.

Antares vending machines sell both cans and bottles. The bottles are for juice, while the cans are for cold drinks. Bottles still remain a favorite with the consumers, but there has been a decline in the manufacturing of bottles. The reason for this is because they are more expensive to produce than cans. Antares vending operators have also found that cans are much easier to handle during transportation, than bottles. Bottles are made of glass and can easily break during transportation. When it comes to shelving the Antares machines, the cans are always easier to place than bottles. All this still doesn’t put an end to the popularity of bottles with he consumers.

For the first time in 2003, bottles displaced cans as the top selling package configuration in cold drink vending. Following this, vending operators did raise the price for cans slightly, indicating less competitive pressure for this package.

Cold cup beverage vending, despite being highly profitable as compared to bottles and cans, continued to decline.

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About Vending Accounts

To make money in your Antares vending business, you must consider an account’s contribution to overhead. This is a value that changes with fluctuating sales and costs. Vending is a very forgiving industry and this is what has made many seek a career in vending. If you take on a new location that proves to be unprofitable for your Antares business, you can simply pick up the equipment and move it to a new location that will provide a reasonable profit. To do this effectively, you must identify those customers that are not yielding a profit.

In full line vending, like that provided by Antares Corporation, we don’t have anything that remotely resembles a minimum order requirement. In fact, unlike most other businesses, in vending you have to make a capital investment in even the smallest of customers, and as such, you would have a responsibility to ensure that you earn a reasonable rate of return on investment (ROI) on each capital investment, regardless of the size of the customer.

Marginal accounts: why we have them

Every operator acquires some marginal customers over the years that simply do not earn appropriate returns on the investment the operator has made. At times an Antares operator can take on the customer because they are convinced the customer will grow. A good customer can face hard times and you will have to lay off a large percentage of the workforce. The customer will then no longer qualify as a profitable account. Sometimes Antares vending operators have taken on locations that have met their ROI guidelines when they took them on, after which, their business and overhead costs grew and they simply outgrew the customer. Regardless of where the problem came from, it is the operator’s responsibility to solve these problems.

The process of determining when a particular location becomes unprofitable is more complicated than it appears. Even Antares managers who are professional in every other aspect of vending operations have trouble with this concept. The confusion comes about because of the difficulty in determining which revenues and costs actually disappear if you withdraw from a particular location. You will need to be well informed about all this.

How to Renegotiate Commissions for your Antares Business

If your best account analysis suggests you are not making a profit at an account, then that means that it is time to approach the manager and attempt to renegotiate prices or commissions. Here are some strategies for reducing commissions for your Antares vending business:

· If the account performs overall, but certain machines are not making money, ask to pull those machines or offer to continue to service them without paying commissions on just those machines.

· Stepped or “tired” commissions can offer a win-win solution for you and your customer. In this way, you can pay a higher commission rate on only the Antares vending machines or locations that meets a predetermined threshold.

If the account is not profitable and is unwilling to negotiate, then it is time to walk away without looking back.

If there is a need to renegotiate a contract to stay profitable, there are certain things you can do to differentiate yourself from your competitors. The “hook” also allow you to charge higher prices than your competition. Here are some examples of great value added hooks for your Antares vending business:

· You can offer to install remote monitoring equipment to provide better service and audited commissions. At the same time you can beat out the competition by offering less percentage of commission, than that which is offered by the competition. By doing this you will find that the prospect will be happy to choose better service over a higher vending commission.

· For your Antares vending business, you can install a cashless payment system that allows employees to charge “keys” using credit or debit cards. These keys are accepted by all vending machines. By installing this system you can freely raise prices, since you will be offering a unique service that many would love. At first the customer might not be happy about this but when they realize the benefits, they will eventually come round.

Renegotiating commissions for your Antares vending business is possible if you use some of these strategies.

Cashless Payment System Benefits

The fact that Antares vending machines handles less cash, coupled with the capability to track all transactions remotely, strengthens internal control by minimizing fraudulent cash shrinkage and the potential for vandalism. If properly engineered, a cashless system can substantially improve accountability of both cash and cashless activity.

A cashless payment system can:

a) Increase sales: Customers tend to purchase more products and services when using the cashless payment option. Consumers also tend to make impulsive purchases which also increase sales and revenue for your Antares vending business.

b) Increase profitability: Cashless transactions have allowed increase in price points without negatively impacting sales volume. This can improve an Antares vending operator’s bottom line.

c) Improve efficiency: Cashless transaction technology can be configured for rapid processing and increased services. It also reduces cash handling processes and lower transaction handling fees in your Antares vending business. Transactions are processed faster than cash purchases.

d) Enhance convenience: Cashless transactions are an easier method of payment for products and services, since the customer just has to swipe an account card, wave a wand, wirelessly transmit information, or revalue transaction media. This will make it a preferred payment for your Antares business.

e) Support strategic marketing: Captured operational data carries an electronic trail that can be analyzed to enable increased price points, plus deliver loyalty reward programs and allow payroll deduction programming. In addition, promotional couponing and cash value media can be used to subsidize and incentivize purchasing.

Cashless payment options vary from credit card and debit cards, to smart card and to magnetic strips. Once you install the system in your Antares vending machines, these are the modes of payments that can be used.

Many systems suppliers claim that the convenience of cashless payment options can increase the number of purchase transactions by an average of 15 % while the average revenue per sale can increase by 20% to 50% over prior same machine transactions due to the ease of multiple product purchasing.

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Combination Machines Improve Versatility

Are you thinking of investing in new equipment? Populations and customer demands are changing faster than ever. Many of the new glass front combination machines address the need for greater variety in smaller locations. Since versatility is on your list of considerations, why not go for an Antares Combo Vending Machine.

Combo machines are not something new. The versatility that these machines are offering is what is new. The Antares Combo Refreshment Center by Natural Choice USA offers cold drinks and snacks.

In situations where both ambient and refrigerated products are in the same machine, operators have to pay attention to how much time it takes for the machine to cool down the ambient products. This would be the case with Antares Combo Refreshment Center. The other issue with these machines is that you can have products with different shelf life in one machine. This makes it hard to know the most opportune time to service the machine.

Nevertheless, many operators have found that there is a need for more versatile machines that allows them to vend a greater product variety. With an Antares combo machine you can have large accounts.

If you place an Antares vending machine in a certain location, it doesn’t mean that it will be there for the rest of its life. As a result of versatility, these machines have options so you can vend certain products in one location and something else in another location. These machines will always be profitable and they also allow you to satisfy the customers.

With an Antares combo vending machine, the snacks do not have to get cold; refrigeration is used for the cold drinks only. Instead of having multiple machines vending different products, you can have these products in one Antares machine.

The new Antares glass front vending machine is more versatile than the earlier generation of combination machines, since it offers separate openings for different types of products. This machine has a greater capacity than most glass front vending machines, and is also easy for the customer to operate.

It makes sense to put in full size vending machines, so that you can cut down on labor since you will making fewer trips to service the machine and ultimately increase your sales.

Trade Up Candy/Snack Marketing

Major candy companies are encouraging vending operators to upgrade to large size candy bars because it will be the next best revenue opportunity. Beverage companies were the first to offer this size upgrade in their in their product. This convinced other vending operators to upgrade from 12 ounce to 20 ounce beverages.

Major Benefits

1. Customer benefit: The customer would benefit financially from purchasing a 20 ounce beverage because this means that he would receive 8 more ounces of product at a lower per ounce cost than if he chose to purchase a traditional 12 ounce beverage. As an Antares vending operator you can offer a larger ounce beverage from your vending machine instead of the traditional 12 ounce beverage.
2. Vending operator benefit: in the long run the Antares vending operator would benefit from upgrading to large size bottles. Although the vending operator would realize lower gross margins, the gross dollar profit for your Antares vending business would increase.
3. Beverage manufacture benefit: The manufacturer would benefit since margins would improve when they sold 20 ounce beverages instead of 12 ounce beverages.

Trade up marketing is a tactic that is used often, especially in the food industry. This of course is of great benefit to the vending industry. As an Antares vending operator you can choose to be part of it. This can bring in more success for your business. At many food chains, beverage sizes are increased dramatically for a small fee, allowing the consumer to get more for his money. This is the reason that the customer would benefit. In other cases, a small beverage option is completely eliminated. A good example is McDonalds which used to offer an 8 ounce beverage. This option is no longer available. Certain convenience stores no longer offer a 12 ounce coffee, but are now offering a 20 ounce coffee size. Consumers are demanding larger products at a small upgrade cost, so as an Antares vending operator you will experience success with trade up marketing. Many industries are already experiencing this same success. It has worked out quite well for the food industry so far.

5 Aspects for a Successful Drink and Snack Combo Vending Route

1. Selling name brand products. If you sell name brand products in your Antares vending machines, you will find that these are the most popular items for the customers. Since you own an Antares combo vending machine then you can sell both Coke and Pepsi in the same machine. These two are the leading cold drinks available in the USA. It is a known fact that cold drinks and snack are the #1 selling products in vending machines.

2. Using the most popular vending machine. Full size vending machines can be quite expensive….especially for a new vendor who wants to maximize their investment potential. Vending machines by Natural Choice USA are very popular. There are combo machines available. These vending machines come with the most reasonable rates in the market. They will the best machines to start out with.

3. The importance of a great location. The importance of location can never be stressed enough. It should always be the #1 priority to any vending business.

4. Service and warranties. For your peace of mind the Antares Corporation is only a phone call away. Any time that you might have any questions, they will be answered. With the Antares vending program you will have enough information on your fingertips, that you will be well equipped to handle your business. We know that peace of mind goes a long way to helping a new business owner get started the right way.

5. Start up costs. With Antares Corporation you will not need to worry about the start up costs. We want you to make profit in your business and also help you; so that you can you can control your time, money and future. This is all possible because of the wonderful program that we offer.

The typical location for your Antares combo vending machine will be in an office. This is where you will provide refreshment service to the employees. This is the most profitable and consistent segment of combo vending. You will have customers purchasing from your vending machine all day long.

Vending Machine Product Trends

CANDY, SNACKS, AND CONFECTIONS

In recent years, candy, snack and confection vending machines sales have made a great recovery. The gain in sales can be attributed to price increase in vending machine candy bars, which are the largest revenue generator for this vending machine product category. Major chocolate companies introduced large –size versions of their top selling products. As a result of this Antares vending machine operators saw a difference in their sales. Profits from candy, snack and confession vending machines went up.

FROZEN FOOD

Frozen food vending machines also made a gain at the expense of refrigerated vending machines. In 2004, the proportion of frozen sold in relation to all food products was the biggest one year increase ever. Frozen food has long shelf life and because of its popularity it now represents the majority of food sold in vending machines. Snack and soft drink vending machines like the Antares vending machines still remain the all time favorite of vending operators. There was also an increase in integrated food vending machines which heat and serve food from a frozen state. They were more costly than simple frozen food vending machines, thus their application was limited.

HOT BEVERAGES

A few years back, hot beverages suffered a slight dip because of minimization of industrial accounts, which provides the main customer base for vending machine hot beverages. In other locations hot beverages vending machines don’t have such a large customer base. In all other locations, soft drinks vending machines like the Antares vending machines always have a strong customer base. However, coffee vending machines have continued to do well as a result of consumer demand. Despite the growing consumer demand for specialty coffee, vending operators minimized investment in the product because of the higher costs of vending machine equipped to dispense fresh specialty coffee. This is the reason that a large number of vending operators prefer snack and soft drink vending machines like the Antares vending machines, which are not highly priced and are easy to manage. Small vending machine operators had to increase coffee prices in order to maintain reasonable profits. Other operators opted to replace hot beverage vending machines with single cup brewers. This reduces investment and increases product variety, but cuts down on vending machine capacity.

User Interface Design for Vending Machines

In the United States, many vending machines arrange their products in rows and columns. You would find that this in the case of Antares vending machines. To select a product, you type the letter of the row and the number of the column.

Generally the columns in all vending machines including Antares vending machines are labeled 1 through 10. That means that if you want to buy product C10, you have to push the buttons “C” and “10”. In a modern keyboard-based world, there is no “10” button. Instead, people type “1” followed by “0”. If one types “C”+”1”+”0”, it means that after you have typed “1”, product “C1” drops, and then you realize that there is no “0” button and you have bought the wrong product.

One solution is NOT to put so many items on a single row in your Antares vending machine. People have difficulty in making decisions if given too many options.

Another solution is to change the labels on the Antares vending machine so that there can be no buttons with two characters on them (like the “10” button)

Switch the rows and columns, so that the products are labeled “1A” through “1J” across the top row and “9A” through “9J” across the bottom. This can only apply if you don’t have more than nine rows.

The latest solution is one you can find in most recent vending machines. Here instead of calling the tenth coloumn”10”, they call it “0”. They also removed rows “1” and “0” so that there can be no confusion with “1” and “0”.

Some vending machine use numeric codes for all items rather than a letter and a digit. For example if a snack is product number 18, then you punch “1” “8”.

Vending Machine Snacks

At one point of time, we have all looked at a vending machine with all the snacks and wondered “what is this junk?”

Vending machines have changed a lot since the days of automats, when Jazz Age eateries like Horn & Hardart would dispense a slab of meatloaf or a hot apple pie through a slot. Today, most vending machines, like the Antares vending machine, deal in quick fixes. They have snacks, which are meant for people on the move, or people who just simply want a snack.

To many people, the vending machine is as much a part of their diet as food joints. The average American works about eight to ten hours a day and about 15% of workers don’t even have time for a lunch break. They would of course prefer a snack from machines like the Antares vending machine since they don’t have the time for anything else.

In response to pressure from parent groups, customers and the health care industry, vending machine companies are now beginning to offer healthier snacks. As an Antares vending machine owner you can decide to sell healthier snacks, so that you cater to the healthy conscious public.

Even if there are healthier choices in Antares vending machines and other machines, it is still easy to fall victim to a sugar craving. One should not try to skip meals in such a case. If you need small snacks, choose peanuts or yogurt. If you visit an Antares vending machine, go ahead and get a candy bar, it will make you more energetic.

From January 2006, the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) started focusing on nutrition in the work place—where vending sales are highest. The aim of this is to encourage vending snack food leaders to develop healthier choices.