Choosing Planet Antares Vending Machine Products
Category management is a system that is designed to allow a company to gain advantage of the market research in selecting products for the machines. By sales maximization, the company helps the driver to earn more money, whether he is paid on commission or a combination of the two.
Designing a planogram consists of three basic steps:
1. Identification of product categories
2. Space allocation to each product
3. Decision regarding specific products for each category.
There are different ways in which Planet Antares vending operators can categorize products. Once these categories have been defined, they can be grouped into smaller categories. This is known as a judgment call. Lesser the number of categories, easier it is to do a planogram. More the categories defined, the more the planogram will ensure variety.
The next step will be to allocate space in the Planet Antares vending machine. Every category should get at least one facing. The number of facings is based on category sales and how well the products will ft in the shelf.
The third step is product selection, usually the most difficult. You an consider three kinds of products:
a. core products
b. cycle products
c. choice products
In short, the planogram must designate every facing in the machine. This makes it essential to have a separate planogram for a machine that has a different number of facings. You will gain control over the products that are placed in the machines. Even if a route driver calls in sick, you won’t have any trouble in knowing what products need to be placed in particular vending machines.
Focus On Branding In Your Planet Antares Vending Business
In order to run a successful vending business, you need to ensure that you have the best products in your vending machines. These products play a significant role in determining the success of your Planet Antares vending business. Before selecting the products, you will need to carry out research on which products are popular with the public. This information can be obtained by going to various locations and watching customer buying pattern. Another way is to ask kids about which products to place in vending machines.
You will save a lot of trouble of advertising by placing branded items in your Planet Antares vending machines. These products are already popular with the public and of course, they are always being promoted on the media. By keeping these items in your Planet Antares vending machines, you can be sure that they literally sell themselves. Even though branding is one of the factors that contribute to effective merchandising, it has been underutilized in vending.
C-stores and supermarkets i.e. retail competitors have long been marketing their branded products. They are way ahead of the vending industry when it comes to that. This is something that the vending industry can learn from the retail industry.
Items such as sodas, juices and snacks are sold through Planet Antares vending machines. These products should always be branded. When you place such products in your vending machines, they will always sell. They have been around for a long time and advertised on media channels. This means that there will be no problem in selling these brands in your vending machine. All you have to do is place the machines in strategic locations.
All types of products can be placed in Planet Antares vending machines but it is best to go for branded products. Try out new products as well along with these branded items, you never know which product becomes popular with the customers. This can only be found out by placing new products in the machines.
Basics Of Planet Antares Snack Vending Machines
You will find snack vending machines in different formats and styles. Most snack vending machines have glass front doors and the customer can see the products placed inside. Since a customer will be buying a snack, it is important for them to see what they are going to buy. Otherwise, they will be reluctant to buy the products. If they can look into the machine then they can be able to browse to see what snack they would prefer. Always remember that the consumer thinks with their eyes.
Planet Antares Corporation offers snack and drink combo vending machines. You will find that these types of vending machines are the most popular in the industry. This is due to the offering of both snacks and drinks which are always in great demand by the consumers.
Snack vending machines can be bought under various categories. While some may offer only six different types of snacks, other machines may provide a wider selection. Planet Antares vending machines provides a variety of snacks to its customers. You will have to consider how much traffic location is in that location before you can decide about the size of machine to be purchased. Take note of the ambience of the premises so that you can match up the style of the vending machine with the surroundings.
While buying a vending machine, go for the most current machines, with sophisticated computer chips and mechanisms, sales tracking, easy restocking and so much more. You will require a machine that will not let you down in your vending business. In other words, you need a reliable and durable machine. Going for Planet Antares vending machines can prove to be a wise decision and these machines will remain reliable even after a lot of use.
A large number of companies offer snack vending machines but you have to go for a quality vending machine so that you can match your machine to the ambience. For a large number of people, Planet Antares vending machines have proved to do so. They are compact, reliable and easy to use. In short, they are ideal for serving all sorts of customers.
Function Of Route Drivers In Planet Antares Vending Business
Route drivers form a critical part of vending business operations. As the owner of a Planet Antares vending business, you know that increasing route driver productivity will enhance profits. This is the reason why route drivers are paid on commission basis. They can receive a base salary plus a percentage of weekly sales. You can use this system in your Planet Antares vending business to encourage soda vending machine route drivers to adopt a more proactive role in increasing sales.
In order to encourage route productivity, incentive programs are necessary. However, incentive programs alone may not be enough to maximize profits. Theoretically, they work when employees have total control over their own productivity. When it comes to snack and beverage vending machines, consumers also play an important role. Incentive programs are important to motivate route drivers to service as many machines as possible. This will enable collection of as much money as possible, if you are using this system in your Planet Antares vending business, you will have to ensure that the route drivers are not cutting any corners to work faster. This can have a serious negative impact on your business.
It is important to encourage the route drivers of your Planet Antares vending business to do a thorough job in a proficient manner. They must follow all health and safety procedures. When the vending machines are well maintained, costly future breakdowns can be avoided. The route driver is responsible for checking the vending machines on a regular basis, so they know better than anyone lese what the machine requires. It is important to keep the machines clean at all times. A good vending route driver is aware about the time when the equipment requires servicing.
Route drivers must spend some time talking to clients in order to determine what products and services are desired by the consumer. They should be careful while pre-selection of product menus for each location to maximize sales. When the vending machine has consumer preferred items, there will be scope for higher level of sales.
The route driver needs to be efficient at all times and never fail to deliver. When you are designing incentive programs for your route drivers, keep the above stated factors in mind. The incentive programs should encourage them to perform better and become more efficient than before.
Category Management Is Rewarding
Planet Antares vending operators are gaining more control of their business with the advances in equipment technology and computer software. These technologies are beneficial for you on several points:
a. Routing
b. Service scheduling
c. Accountability
d. Product selection
For most vending operators, accountability at the route and/or machine level is a top priority in selecting state of the art management software.
Usually, the ability to choose a more profitable product mix is further down on the list of most vending operators’ priorities. A lot of education and management time is needed to do this and that is why, it is not a priority on the vendors list. However, it can have a huge and long term impact on an operator’s profitability.
Amongst the operators, only a small percentage of Planet Antares vending operators have begun to fully utilize the latest management tools. Despite this, the first movers or pioneers, including companies of various sizes are revolutionizing the business. Change is occurring on two parallel fronts:
1) Product merchandising
2) Product accountability
In both hardware and software, advances have given Planet Antares vendors the ability to track individual product movement, enabling them to do two things:
1) Account for route driver’s actions on the route
2) Plan their offerings based on more timely and accurate sales history
Product accountability programs have been developed by software companies in response to widespread concern among operators in regard to this issue. As these systems develop, Planet Antares vending operators began to recognize the benefits of line-item sales reports, namely, the ability to use sales history to menu their machines.
A lot of vendors have recognized the benefits of category management but were not ready to implement it. Initially, they allowed drivers to select most of the products for their route and because of this, they hesitated from asking the drivers to change their work habits.
A new management philosophy is reflected by category management and it affected the drivers, the warehouse and the purchasing department. Most of the Planet Antares vending operators found that the concept seemed effective in theory but were still hesitant to change the existing operating procedures.
Electronic Locking Systems For Your Vending Machines
With time, there have been many changes in vending security. The options for protecting your vending machines that were available 10 years ago were designed to prevent forced entry. As technological advancement happened, the capabilities that high security locks provide have changed.
As far as your Planet Antares vending machines are concerned, electronic locks will provide the same level of security as their mechanical counterparts. Moreover, they will also have the ability to control and monitor access of every vending machine.
In the vending industry with its rising trade loss, internal suspicions are becoming more prevelant with time. In part, this is due to the fact while external break-ins may decline with the use of higher security locks, trade loss is still evident.
You can conside a cumbersome jump from a mechanical lock to an electronic locking system as a Planet Antares vending operator. Evidently, it doesn’t make sense to be constantly looking at audit reports. Since drivers and technicians carry one key only, the process is easier for them. The locks are programmed in a way to accept the key. They also have an expiration date, which means that they will not function until they are reprogrammed.
In case there are any thefts, a Planet Antares vending operator can end up feeling helpless because there is nothing much the vending operator can do immidiately. These situations can be effectively handled by using an electronic locking system.
This system will provide a more efficient way to supervise vending route activity. Thanks to machine audit reports, this has now become possible. If a route driver is not able to finish his route on time, you will know the reasons for such an incident and avoid it in future.
You can use the electronic locking system on a daily basis for your Planet Antares business by Natural Choice, to program keys and run audit reports in case any shortage occurs. This can be a quick way to find out why the shortages have appeared in the first place.
