For most entrepreneurs, the thought of a vending machine business is largely a gamble at its best. It can either net you a huge profit with seemingly less effort, or it could horribly fail and give a huge loss.
That’s not to say that setting up a vending machine isn’t a viable business option. With these six simple tips, you can drastically increase the rate at the revenue which your vending machine will generate.
1. Establish A Stable Location
A vending machine is most effective when it’s placed in an area where many people come and go. Thus, securing an optimal location is one of the most significant ways for your vending machine to turn.One effective way to do this is to simply speak to the owner of any major establishment, be it a supermarket, an industrial company, or even a park, and engage in a negotiation with them so that they’ll allow you to put your vending machine there.You may have to share some of your profits to the owner as part of the raft, but it’s a minor price to pay for the potential revenue that you can come from a stable location.
2. Decorate Your Machine
Simply setting up a machine isn’t enough. In order to make it more attractive and eye-catching, you can display some colorful ornaments inside the machine. For example, things like action figures, a few handmade cutouts, even some stickers can add up to the flair of your vending machine. Adding up a little imagination will catch the customers’ attention to your machine even more.
3. Diversify Your Lineup
Nowadays, a vending machine that sells a single product isn’t going to get you far. The advisable thing to do is at least put in two or more groups of products that complement each other well. The best examples are soda in cans and snack items. Other great examples are different lineup of toys. Having two items that go along with each other also gives the customer their much-needed convenience that they can find everything that they need in one vending machine.
4. Secure Referrals
In order to promote further growth, you have to assure the superiority of your vending machine service, such that when your customers are satisfied, they would even refer your services to other establishments so that you can install a new vending machine there. This effectively allows you to have a wider area of business coverage, which will earn you even more profits.
5. Increase Your Machine Lineup
As your vending machine business grows, you should scale your equipment to meet the growing demands of it. Buying new machines is thus the next step you should take. It doesn’t mean you should invest in more capital to grow your business. You can just use some of your profits for this purpose. And to save up on even more capital, you may also want to consider buying second hand machines.Just make sure to inspect the machine when you’re buying secondhand, and make sure that you test them for integrity, stability, and reliability.
6. Try Alternative Payment Options
Customers have different preferences when they purchase anything outside.They either carry bills, or coins. It’s best that you conform to these kinds of situations and offers a vending machine that accepts both bills and coins, and yet allows a combination of both, so that customer won’t have to go through the hassle of exchanging their money through a nearby establishment just to get them to buy to your vending machine.It’ll certainly increase your sales even more.
Recently, there are now vending machines that allow payment through their credit cards. While these kinds of machine aren’t just as widespread as of late, it could be a good idea to tap into that, in order to offer even more payment options for customer who don’t prefer carrying any cash at all.
About the Author: Victor McNamara works at Vending World. Vending World is a leading distributor of used vending machines. They have sold vending machines since 1968 and can fill almost all of your general vending machine needs.