Tuesday, January 29, 2008

The Secret To Vending Business Profitability

As the vending industry becomes competitive, it has truly become a challenge for vending operators to maintain business profitability. If you are using Planet Antares vending program, establishing and running an efficient and profitable vending business will not be very difficult. Such a vending program will guide you for having sustainable profits through effective strategies like the ones listed below:

Technological upgradation
new techniques and digital tools are helping vending operators in making their vending business more efficient and profitable. As operations improve in execution and control, there is higher scope of expansion and growth. Your Planet Antares vending business will benefit from vending machine software that can analyze sales by location, items and machines. Cashless payment options are also helping vending business owners in increasing the ROI.

Product pricing
this is the simplest way to increase business profits. Before you start increasing product prices, you must consider other options such as:

  • Charging vending machine rental fees
  • Removing unprofitable vending machines
  • Lengthening service intervals to vending machines
  • Reducing the level of service

If you increase product prices of your Planet Antares vending machines, customers may not respond in a positive manner. Make sure that the reason for such a price hike is well justified, making customers come back for your products. To make it a smooth transition, you can offer incentives like price cutting on low performing items. Another good option is to use trade-up snack marketing by selling larger products and increasing consumer value.

Reducing commissions
you can also use this least-impact strategy for increasing business profitability. Instead of price hike, you can plan a cut in commissions paid to location owners who keep your vending machines. In return, you can offer a profit saving concession to them and keep them happy.

Better relationships
good business relationships are the foundation for any successful venture. It ensures smooth running of your vending business. if you share accurate financial information with the location owner, they will be willing to cooperate with your changing needs. Thus, you need to emphasize on accurate accounting for increasing prices and enhancing business profitability.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Market Value Of Your Vending Business

The value of your vending business is determined by the cash flow. Its reliability and predictability will indicate the stability of your vending company. Once you are able to predict the cash flow, the assets and franchise creating the cash flow will incorporate their value.

For existing vending business operators, this may not be an important factor. However, someone planning to exit the vending industry has to focus on this aspect. Moreover, you may have purchased or taken over an existing business and may be interested in increasing its value and then selling it off.

To calculate the market value of your vending business, the first step should be to consider all locations containing your Planet Antares vending machines. This includes both existing as well as new locations whose performance has to be analyzed for past, current and future time. Try to estimate the future value of your vending route or locations assuming that you are a prospective property owner or buyer. The location of your vending machine has a direct relation to its performance as well as the risk involved in buying such a location for the prospective property owner.

The second step will be to measure the average life of your machinery and also, its replacement value. A potential buyer will be interested in knowing such figures and base his decision on this information. This makes it important for you to select only high quality, reliable equipment from reputed vendors like Planet Antares Inc.

Next, a buyer would like to know about the current and predicted growth rate as well as the customer retention rate. If your customers are one-time users, this doesn’t indicate a positive retention rate or business image. Similarly, a high growth rate will be taken as a symbol of cash flow stability and a low growth rate will increase risk factor.

Your cash flow also gains stability if you have multiple accounts with long-term validity, one year or more. Such a portfolio will enhance the value of your vending locations and business as it reflects higher predictability of cash flows. Other than that, you can offer exclusive treatment to the customer in the form of unusual product pricing or branding.

It is critical to have a well-balanced, consistent cash flow for your vending business. The locations and retention rates should be such that allow good predictions of the same as and when you want to sell the business. Remember that an owner of a valuable business entity or equipment is far more probable to earn substantial financial rewards in the present competitive investment environment.