Monday, March 26, 2007

A Supplier with the Right Vending Products

When you are looking for the right kind of supplier for your Planet Antares vending business, you need to make sure that you find one that will provide you with the right vending products. There are vending machine suppliers for almost any product that is available in the market today. When you get started in the vending business, try to sell products that you know the customers will want to buy. Snacks, candy and beverages are products that always do very well in the right locations.

Look for a supplier in your local area, because you shouldn’t have to drive a long distant just to buy your supplies. Search the Internet for information on the suppliers in your area. The supplier should have all the products that you would want to purchase. When a product is new in the market, the supplier should have the product available with them, especially if the product is popular with the public. This means that if you want to be on top of the game with your Planet Antares vending business, you should be very much aware about the products that are popular in your area at any particular time. Having the right products in your vending machines goes a long way in making your vending business profitable. It is important that you have information on which products a location wants to see in your vending machines so that you will be able to ask your supplier for these products. Trends come and go; a product can be a hit for a short or long period of time. This is the reason why you need to be up to date with how products are doing in the market.

A vending machine supplier will also provide you with information on the products that you want to sell in your vending machine. This means that for your Planet Antares vending business, you need to look for a supplier of snacks and beverages. They will tell you which locations are ideal for these kinds of products. These suppliers deal with a huge number of operators, so they get to know a lot about which locations are working well for the vending operators in your area. They are the best people to give you advice on this. When it comes to snacks and beverages, a vending machine will need to carry brand products as well. These are products that sell themselves, so your supplier should be able to provide you with these items.

When you are purchasing products for your Planet Antares vending business, you will need to buy cases of the products. Your vending machine supplier should sell the products in bulk, so that you don’t keep going back for the next stock. Since you are buying products in bulk, make sure that you have ample space to store them. A garage can be an ideal place for them if you are running the business from home. A warehouse is also another option, especially when your business has expanded.

Lastly, buy your products from a reputable vending machine supplier who will sell you products that are fresh and in trend. The products should also have a best before date that is well in advance of when you make the purchase. Selling fresh products in your snack and beverage vending machine is essential for the success of your vending business.

Monday, March 19, 2007

How to Run a Vending Business

To start off, there is a lot that you would need to learn about the vending business. It is a business that you need to get into only if you are well prepared. You should be willing to learn and not be afraid to make mistakes. In the long run, all this will serve you well.

Planet Antares vending offers a viable opportunity for someone who is willing to work hard. When you start a vending business, you will most likely be running your business from your home. Whether or not you need additional help for your Planet Antares business, will all depend on the number of machines that you have. Since most operators start off their business from home, then it would be wise to engage the help of your family. If and when your business grows, you can then move it out of your home to new premises.

Focus on profitability
The location for your Planet Antares vending machines is very important. Make sure that you match the right machine with the right location. You can acquire a truck that is fitted with wooden racks, freezer or a refrigerated cooler. This will be used for the transportation of the snacks and beverages. Alternatively, you can use your personal vehicle when your vending business is still new.

If you give personal service top your customers, you will lose very few accounts or maybe none at all. Get to know the first and last names of 80 percent of the contacts in your accounts. It is also very important that you listen to product requests. By serving locations with products that they want, it will mean more sales for your vending business.

Health awareness
Health products are an issue in some locations. You can have snacks that are 50% healthy or 100% healthy in your locations. It all depends on the need of that particular location. Schools are locations that usually want healthy products in their vending machines. To get to know if a location wants health products, you will need to find out if the location will need such products. People, who are health conscious, don’t mind spending more money for health products, since they know what they are gaining.

Technology
Technology is now being widely used in the vending industry. If your Planet Antares vending business is running successfully, you can even think of installing technology. It requires ample investment, so it means that you should be financially able to invest in technology in order to have it in your vending business. These days, there are all forms of technology that are used in vending to improve efficiency; you just need to find the right one to suit your vending business.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Managing Accounts in a Vending Business

Managing the accounts of your Planet Antares vending business will be easy because you will find everything they need on their balance sheet and income statements that you keep for day to day accounting purposes. Not every operator keeps financial information according to the same format. The key important elements are income, which every operator should know, along with assets and other information that is typically included on a company’s profit and loss statement.

For those Planet Antares operators who are struggling with the financial aspect of running the business and keeping track of figures like income, assets and expenses, there are several excellent accounting packages available.

While gathering the information can be time consuming, it pays off in a variety of ways. Small operators just need to understand that in the vending service, they must continuously think about their future capital needs. Vending is a capital intensive business.

Better equipment
New and improved equipment can work well for a vending business. Better equipment can bring more sales. There are many instances in which vending operators have been able to win business because they offered a piece of equipment with new features. Planet Antares vending machines are quality machines that have all the latest features. These features can be enhanced with some of the new technologies that are in the market. Vending machines that have technological advances are better equipment.

Financial ratios
As your Planet Antares vending business grows, the costs will also increase and hopefully, the sales will as well. The financial ratios will keep track of the relationship between expenditures and sales, and account for all the line items that contribute to both. The financial ratios will give you the measurement tools you need to know how a particular investment will affect your company’s financial health over a period of time. As a company’s overhead needs increase, a business will naturally look to financing more of its expenditures. If you do not have accurate financial information and your financial ratios are not in line, you might not find it easy to secure funds that will grow the business.

Key variables
When you are through with evaluating the basic gross sales, net sales and overhead, the next most important ratios to evaluate will be four other critical profit variables below:

• Sales per employee, an excellent measure of employee productivity.
• Gross margin percentage, which reflects the ability to manage cost of goods sold effectively.
• Operating expense percentage, this focuses on expense control.
• Inventory turnover, which reflects how well inventory is managed.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Snack and Beverage Vending Factors

Snack and beverage vending machines are the most popular vending machines around. Scores of people prefer to grab a quick bite on the go, rather than to sit down for a meal. These machines have become particularly popular with all busy working people. These are people that more often than not have to eat in a hurry, because they simply don’t have the time to sit down. This is one the reasons why a Planet Antares snack and beverage vending business would a good money making opportunity.

Location
The location that you placed your Planet Antares vending machines will play a big role in the kind of profits you will make. Schools for example, make a great location for snack and beverage vending machines, since selling will be guaranteed. Most schools today, prefer to have health products in their vending machine. Even with these kinds of products in your vending machine, you can still be sure of getting sales. Shopping malls also make great locations. Hungry shoppers would be grateful to spot a vending machine, where they can grab a snack before continuing with their shopping.

Products
Sell quality products in your Planet Antares vending machines. Selling branded products is a great way of ensuring sales. These are products that are easily identified by customers and thus they sell faster. Finding a supplier who can provide with these products at a cheap rate would be the best thing for your Planet Antares vending business. If you can buy the products cheaper from the supplier, it means that you can sell them cheaper to the customers. By selling your products cheaper, you will be able to beat out the competition.

Maintenance
When you have a snack and beverage vending machine, you need to keep in mind that snacks and beverages are sensitive to direct sunlight exposure. When you pick a location for your vending machine, you can have it placed in a shadowy corner or any other place that is shaded from direct sunlight. The products that you sell have to be fresh and unspoiled.

Snacks and beverages go side by side
Having a mixed snack and soda vending machine is a good idea, because each time people eat they usually need a drink to go with the snack. This will not only keep the customers satisfied, but it will also increase the profit of your Planet Antares vending business.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

The Importance of Servicing Your Vending Machines

When you have a Planet Antares vending business, you need to make sure that it is profitable at all times. Just like any other business, you would want to make money in a vending business. There are a number of factors that can contribute to you having a profitable vending business. The one that we are going to discuss here is servicing of your vending machines.

There is a great deal of importance of servicing vending machines. Once you have purchased your Planet Antares vending machine, the next step would be to look for a supplier that can provide you with all the snacks and beverages that you want. Look for a local supplier, so that you have no problems transporting your products. Having a local supplier would be very convenient for the running of your vending business.

Looking for a location, would be the next step to establishing your vending route. Once you have your vending business up and running, you will fist need to observe how fast the products sell in your Planet Antares vending machine. Provided that you have placed the right products in the vending machines and the vending machines are in the right location, you are bound to have high sales. Products will sell according to popularity. There are products in your vending machines that will sell faster than others, while there are others that will sell very slowly or not at all.

When you come to service your vending machine, you should have the slow moving products replaced with faster moving products. Within a short period of time you will get to know which products are popular with the location that you are servicing. You can also get to know this piece of information from the customers in the location. When you know what they would want in the vending machines make sure that you vend those products. This will ensure that you always have sales. Introducing new products that would be popular with the location would be a great way of boosting your sales.

Always be on time to service your Planet Antares vending machines. Once you know how the products sell from the vending machine, you will know when exactly to refill the vending machine. Keep a large supply of your fast selling products. Customers who find products out of stock in vending machines face inconvenience which will make them avoid the vending machine in the future. Keep your vending machines well serviced at all times.

Servicing a vending machine means refilling and maintaining the vending machines, as well as collecting money from the vending machines. Whenever you service the vending machines, make sure that you clean it and check up on its working condition, so that if there are any adjustments to be made, they can be made. This will help to prevent any future malfunctions. If you want you want your vending business to run smoothly, you need to always keep in mind the importance of servicing your vending machine.