Vending machines are assets with potential. They can generate a consistent rate of cash flow with relatively minimal effort. But if you are just starting, what is the most profitable location for siting your vending machine?
Captive Audience
A captive audience presents a profitable opportunity. If you have exclusivity over the venue where they are situated, then all sales and revenue are yours.
The venue capacity is the limit.The main profit lever would be duration or repeat visits. The longer the audience are situated with your machine, the greater the chances are they’ll buy repeatedly.
That said, you’re audience has got to go home some time…but the more returns they have, the greater your recurring or repeat revenue opportunity.
Here are some profitable capative audience location for installing your vending machine:
Event venue
In the current event economy, there is a diverse range of event venues in terms of size, layout, visitors etc. Events could take place hours or days…even weeks. Events, by nature, are not continuous. They have a start and an end. But during that window, an opportunity exists to serve the audience with goods that add value to their convenience and enjoyment to their attendance.
Here are some event venue examples:
- Conferencing
- Weddings
- Exhibition centres
- Sports stadiums
Workplace
Places where people work present golden opportunities for vending machine placement. You have a captive audience who are routinely present, week in week out. They have enough familiarity with their workspace to build solid and predictable habits. And with the emerging trends amongst employee behaviour and attitudes in the workplace, there are growing expectations for comforts and perks from working life. Employees are under growing pressure to make the workplace, much like a home space.
Here are some workplace examples:
- Manufacturing plants
- Office
- Co-working spaces
Care Venue
Care venue attract routine visits from captive audiences that occupy venue space, on schedule. Waiting rooms and corridors are key spots to attract visitors at times where they are most inclined to welcome a convenient distraction. Also, don’t underestimate sales from staff. Their daily lunch expenses add up. And if you’re even more adventurous, consider ready-made dinners for workers who want to skip passing by the supermarket on the way home to buy ingredients for the family’s evening meal.
Here are some examples of care venues:
- Nursing homes
- Veterinary centres
- Physio gyms
Hotels
Hotels are the classic captive audience venue. Guests are literally living within the four walls of the building – at least overnight, if not longer. Whilst there is likely to be on-site catering services for breakfast and dinner. Plus, perhaps a bar area for light refreshments and snack foods during the day, that’s not to say a vending experience would compete rather than add value. Just consider the overhead savings from under-occupied staff availability being replaced by a self-service element. Also, remember vending experiences are always about food and drink. Your machines could sell other products that hotel guests would otherwise have to do without or leave the site to obtain from local shops.
Here are some examples of hotel vending spots:
- Foyer
- Room
- Meeting rooms
- Gym
Self-catering
Here’s an obvious theme: hospitality units that don’t offer catering. The combination of a new destination away from home and a long journey both in and out begs the provision of a convenient bite to eat without any hassle.
- Airbnb
- Campsite
- Caravan park
- Holiday let
- Service apartment
Footfall
Footfall is the primary marker of success for the traditional vending machine model. The people likely to pass by the machine, the more eyeballs its goods will attract. The more eyeballs, the more stop and browse. The more stop and browse, the more likely to buy. It’s a numbers game.
Timing and positioning the installation of your machine will play a large part in successfully monetising the location’s footfall.
Here are some profitable locations for attractive maximum vending machine footfall:
Pop-up
Pop-up locations are increasing in popularity, as the trends for home-based catering start ups catch on. Rising rental costs and related captial requirements prohibiting many from acquiring a brick and mortar location – pop-ups are a cost effective alternative. Various vending machines travel quite well and are relatively portable providing a variety of complementary goods.
- Lunch catering vans
- Food trucks
- Mobile sandwich trucks
Breakfast & Lunch
The highest volume traffic location for traditional vending machines. Even relatively small cafes and coffee shops can turn over hundreds of meal orders within just a few hours of breakfast/lunch trade. If the location of the cafe or coffee shop is optimal, it can attract a variety of customer segments: retirees, school run parents, employees on the way to work or the gym before work, tradesmen, lunch break workers etc…
- Cafe
- Coffee shop
- Dessert bar
Station or Port (Bus, Train, Plane, Boat, Ferry, Ship)
A constant flux of customer footfall is guaranteed in stations and ports. People also expect ot spend disposable income in such a venue, plus there are lots of complementary food and drink combination possibilities presenting opportunity to get creative with vending solutions. Families, business travellers etc. each segment offers a different demand of taste and menu.
- Bus
- Train
- Airport
- Boat or ferry port
Markets
Indoor and outdoor markets attrach crowds on a regular basis. And whilst vendor planning and restrictions is necessary to control the offerings to the benefit of visitors, there are always profitable pockets of underserved customers which, if focused on, can open up a steady flow of income for the right vending operator.
- Farmers markets
- Indoor markets
- Car boot sales
- Seasonal markets
Farm sales
Farms are not necessarily high volume footfall locations. But farms that host pick-your-own – or perhaps have a diversified range of on-site activities including tourist attractions or hospitality will naturally pull in the crowds, especially during peak holiday periods. And increasingly more and more farmers are facilitating farm gate sales with vending machines, selling everything from eggs to milk out of a machine.
- Farm shop
- Farm gate
- Canteen
Bonus #1: Zero-Commission
The assumption can be that venues will only consider accepting a vending machine partner if financial incentives or revenue share is offered. But interestingly enough, the deal clincher is often a promise to keep the machines well services. The main reason for location decision makers switching vending operators is poor servicing of the machines. So, the advice is save money by focusing on service, rather than revenue share.
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