An Education in Vending

Antares Corporation has offered great opportunities to a number of vending operators. Using the Natural Choice vending program, you can get to know how great a vending opportunity can be.

The future of automatic merchandising

The per capita purchasing from Antares machines as well as other machines will grow faster than overall consumer spending. The vending machines are becoming more reliable and the product selection is much better, consumers really appreciate the efficiency that comes with a successful transaction. People are tired of dealing with poorly trained personnel and would prefer to do business anonymously with a machine.

Technology, and the speed with which it is employed in our channel of trade, will define the winners. Route efficiency will increase and product merchandising will become more scientific. In addition to this, inventory management will improve. All this will bring about enhanced profitability for your Antares business. The marginal operators will no longer be able to compete, which of course will come with greater profitability. This scenario will favor the larger operators because now, for the first time, there will be discernable advantages to scale.

Product: the leaders will dominate even more

Antares vending operators understand that the big brands sell better. A new sexy product has a shot at selling better than one of the category leaders when first placed in the machine. There is a slippery slope for the dominating companies to be concerned about. Product proliferation is a double edged sword. Enlightened manufacturers recognize that vending offers benefits to new products and brand extensions. This, however, often comes at the expense of a company’s own products and may have the effect of reducing overall sales.

The vending business is getting more scientific, and Antares operators are beginning to understand that there is a cost associated with managing too many stock keeping units (SKUs). Category management can help you to manage all this.

Vending as a retail channel of trade

In the not too distant future, automatic merchandising will be a fully mature retail channel of trade. The vending industry needs to capture information about the consumer and report this information to the manufacturer; this will enable the manufacturer to understand their consumers’ buying behavior.