Thursday, March 27, 2008

Increasing The Market Value Of Your Vending Machine Business

Any business, including vending, is usually valued for the cash flow and predictability or stability of that cash flow. After all, if the cash flow is predictable, the assets and the franchise responsible for its creation will hold considerable value.

As a Planet Antares vending operator, this may not effect you much. However, in case of considering an exit strategy or buying a business to enhance it and sell it, you may become interested in increasing the value of your business.

While considering the market value of your Planet Antares vending business, you first have to think about the new and existing locations, not just for their past performance but also for any trends that may have an impact on their future performance. For example, the future value of your vending locations depends on the risk involved. Low growth locations have more tisk.

Also, you will have to quantify the average life span of your vending machines and its replacement value. Any prospective buyer would be interested in these details. Thus, it becomes important to purchase quality equipment like those that are provided by Planet Antares Corporation. Buyers will also ask about your customer retention rate and growth rate in recent years. These figures add or deduct from the stability of your cash flow stream.

Moreover, you need to find ways to enhance the predictability or stability of your cash flow by “locking in” your accounts. A buyer will immidiately place a higher value on a vending route backed up by one or multiple year contracts. On the other hand, you can have some form of exclusivity to offer the customer like an unusual brand or price on a specific product.

Remember that if you are able to maintain a stable or growing cash flow in your Planet Antares vending business and have good locations and customer retention rates, you will have a successful, comfortable vending business. Such a business will definitely be a valuable commodity in today;s investment environment.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Finding The Ideal Vending Location

It is not enough that you are the proud owner of high quality vending machines, or attracted to the allure of high profit margins and the all cash income offered by vending business.

No doubt, vending machines are the proverbial money making machines. The trick is to find effective vending locations and fielding enough units to make it a worthwhile investment. Many people are using vending as an opportunity to earn adequate income and be content. It seems to be the ticket to financial freedom for many people planning their retirement or individuals looking for ways to supplement their existing income or jobs.

Basically, there are two ways of finding a location for your Planet Antares vending machines. The first is to go shop to shop and look for restaurant owners, supermarket managers and haggle with auto dealership owners to keep your vending equipment. You will require a thick skin and lots of enthusiasm to do this. However, the amount of costs and energy spent in doing the same is not worth the results. It would be much better to go for the second option.

Find a professional vending machine locator and hire them to search for and get effective locations for your equipment. Some reputable vending machine companies like Planet Antares Inc even offer locating services along with the equipment. A vending location company calls hundred of businesses to see if they want free vending machines. These calls may be answered with a negative response, the reason being:

  • No place to put it
  • Not enough traffic
  • Hate vending machines
  • Doesn’t want liability if a kid chokes on a gumball
  • The manger, owner, or decision maker is not there

Even though there are a few problems, cold calling does work in the end. Frequent rejections should not demoralize you. Eventually, you will find some great locations for your Planet Antares vending machines.

Some of the best locations to place your vending machines include hotels, motels, diners, barber shops, pizza parlors, tattoo parlors, auto repair and dealerships, bike shops, corporate locations, auto dealerships, nursing homes, schools, college campus, etc.

The reason for these locations being lucrative is that they get a high amount of foot traffic coming in and out of their doors all day. It will be even better if their business activities require customers to wait in line or waiting for their car to be fixed. Most vending machine sales are impulse purchases by people on the go.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Avoiding Power Disruptions To Enhance Vending Business Efficiency

As digital technology becomes prevalent in vending machines and other equipment, vending machine operators have become exposed to costly power disruptions. The sales of your Planet Antares vending business may be disrupted through power outages, energy surges and lightening. At the same time, it may cause loss of revenue and damage to your equipment. This has resulted in making vending machine safety and protection measures more critical than ever before.

The vending industry is changing at a rapid pace. The introduction of digital technology to the vending industry, machines, office equipment and other digital devices has made them all the more dependent on quality power for operations. Apart from the above listed issues, there are several other problems you need to worry about. Other disturbances can damage your vending machine by simply plugging it into an outlet.

It has become essential to protect your Planet Antares vending machines with a power protector. This will prevent any harmful electrical noise and interference from disrupting the operations of your vending machines. You should prevent any damage from occurring to your equipment. This will result in expansion of the life of your vending machine as well its reliability and safety.

You can choose from different options of power protection available in the market. It will be determined by what you will require to protect your Planet Antares vending machine and equipment. Some manufacturers offer extended warranties that provide coverage for all repair costs for equipment, up to the full replacement value of the equipment if a properly connected filter fails.

While comparing the power protection companies, you must also look for additional advantages and programs for your Planet Antares vending business.

In short, power protection has become vital for the success of any vending business. This protection must cover machines, computer based systems and digital equipment. All these will require power protection to ensure optimum productivity and profitability for your vending business.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Development Of Vending Machines

Over the years, vending machines have greatly evolved. Advanced vending equipment like Planet Antares vending machines is available these days. Obviously, a lot has happened since early times to reach this stage. Now, you can find vending machines all over the world and are vending all sorts of products.

The first vending machines were manufactured and developed in the 1880s. Being introduced in London, England, the vending machines have now become advanced and updated. A century later, we have vending machines like those provided by Planet Antares Corporation and other companies.

In America, the first vending machine was introduced in 1888 by Thomas Adam in the form of coin operated vending machine and started a whole new concept in the United States. It was only in the 1900’s that vending machines actually began to evolve. In the early years, a restaurant named horn and Hardart was opened with coin operated vending machines filled with fresh items and cold beverages. The restaurant stayed open for six decades and became very popular.

The first soda vending machine was invented in 1920. it dispensed soda into cups and was quite different from the beverage vending machines of today. Nowadays, you will find all sorts of features in soda vending machines like:

  • coin changers
  • dollar bill changers
  • credit card swipers

Really, vending machines have come a long way from the original models and cater to the varying needs of customers all across the world. Many people find it more convenient that going to the local store.

In short, you can say that vending machines are still evolving and developing to dispense new products, incorporate higher level technology and make customers happy. From vending simple products like postcards to now vending snacks and beverages like Planet Antares vending machines, vending machines have witnessed a large number of changes. Today, vending machines are dispensing even digital products. their evolution is not expected to slow down as the vending industry gears up to launch customized solutions for all your needs.