The underlying principle of the vending industry is fairly straightforward: if you provide your clients with the appropriate goods at the appropriate times, you’ll have a successful vending machine. That’s easier said than done, as anyone in the industry will tell you.
Products sell out, equipment malfunctions, and consumer preferences shift. Keeping the ideal selection on hand requires both science and creativity. Of course, unless you have the necessary technology. Then it is purely scientific. But I’ll get to that in a moment.
To maximize profit, a vending operation must constantly optimize operations. For your vending machines to make the most money possible, you should focus on the following four things:
1. Uptime: The equipment must always be in operational condition.
2. Product availability – desired goods and beverages have to be available at all times
3. Product choice: The machine should offer the proper combination of goods and beverages.
4. Delivery – Customers ought to be able to obtain the ordered good or beverage.
The best IoT and telemetry solutions for the vending apps and coffee industries can help you always get the most out of your vending machines. Let’s look at each of these in turn and learn how. What are these instruments, though, first?
IoT and telemetry tools for vending businesses
The network of physical items, or “things,” that are implanted with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of communicating and exchanging data with other devices and systems through the Internet is referred to as the “Internet of Things” (IoT).
The act of remotely collecting and transferring data from an object to a receiving system is known as telemetry.
IoT and telemetry solutions can give you access to a variety of data when it comes to vending machines, including real-time machine technical status, product stock levels, sales statistics, consumption trends, and many other things.
At its core, “IoT and telemetry tools” are a platform made up of a hardware device (like Linkitsoft’s vBox) that you plug into your vending machine to collect data from the machine and a software application, where you can access this data and insights.
Once a vBox is connected to a device, it begins gathering technical and sales data from the device and sending it in real-time to the secure Linkitsoft Cloud application, where customers can access this data to enhance operational effectiveness, examine device and product performance, and boost sales. This is fantastic since it means that you can access data at any time, from any location in the world, using your computer or smartphone.
Already sounds fantastic, no? The primary benefit of Linkitsoft is that we can help you expand your company by providing information on exactly what is occurring with your equipment, which lowers expenses and boosts sales. To be more precise, you may examine the state of your vending machines in real-time, get granular information about product inventory, assess your sales statistics, plan effective routes for re-stocking and maintenance depending on demand, and get the most recent technical and sales data. And a whole lot more.
Having stated that, let’s go back to the four characteristics of a profitable vending machine and discuss how solutions like Linkitsoft may completely transform your company.
1. The machine should always be in working condition
Lost revenue results from any downtime. Concurrently, the most crucial element in determining profitability is having your machine operational. Maintenance and repairs are an essential component of the vending industry due to the large number of moving parts, the potential for trapped items, as well as the rare hostile customer.
But you already know this from personal experience. Response time is the true problem. It’s crucial to react as soon as possible—ideally, the minute a technical issue occurs—to reduce machine downtime and keep operations running smoothly.
You won’t be aware of downtime in a timely manner if you rely on the consumer to phone a number posted on the vending machine to report a problem. A digital solution that alerts you as soon as something goes wrong is essential for quick response and maximizing uptime.
You can receive an immediate alert the instant your machine experiences a problem using Linkitsoft. In this manner, you can respond quickly, address the problem, and minimize downtime, maintaining a steady income flow while offering top-notch customer support.
2. Requested products and drinks should be always available
Even if your vending machine gets the much desired 100% uptime, if it is left empty, it will be for nothing. To keep your earnings flow unhindered and consumers happy, timely product or ingredient replenishment is crucial.
Once more, adopting a reactive strategy is insufficient. The less time your machine spends idle, the better for you, and ideally, that situation shouldn’t arise. However, waiting by your machines constantly to restock them right away defeats the purpose of running a vending operation.
Studying consumer behavior and stocking up after peak hours can be effective answers, but they’re not always the best because you might end up filling up too early or too late.
A great way to keep your vending machine as profitable as possible is with IoT and telemetry technologies. As previously indicated, the Linkitsoft allows you to view the status of your stock in real time. Linkitsoft not only provides you with accurate stock-level information but also alerts you when items are becoming low so you may restock in advance. Additionally, Linkitsoft assists you in creating effective re-stocking routes that will lower your gasoline expenditures, eliminate pointless stops, and guarantee that you arrive at each machine with the appropriate quantity of goods.
3. The machine should have the right mix of products and drinks
By this point, the essential components are in place; your machine is operational and always filled.
The choice of products is the next factor that has a significant impact on profitability. A sale is all but certain if the appropriate product is available at the right time. Unfortunately, consumer product tastes shift and develop quickly, making it difficult to keep up.
Going with a tried-and-true classic option is frequently simpler and more profitable than attempting to account for changing preferences and possibly making a mistake. Additionally, keeping up with seasonality patterns and other changes in demand can require an absurd amount of work.
Again, Linkitsoft’s telemetry tools can provide you with the knowledge you require to produce the greatest possible product mix. You can quickly examine short- and long-term purchase patterns and behaviors for a single machine or for an entire network of machines using thorough reports in the Linkitsoft Cloud thanks to consolidated data.
The ability to view all data on one platform, analyze various trends, and then, for example, apply lessons learned across your whole fleet or shift your machines around to better fit local tastes can be especially useful if you own many vending machines.
4. Consumers should be able to get the requested product or drink
Let’s discuss about payment options last. More individuals will be able to visit your vending machine and purchase the goods they want as long as you accept a variety of payment options. If a consumer finds they can’t actually get what they want because they are unable to pay for it when they are ready to buy, all of your optimization efforts will have been in nothing.
Offering a customer’s preferred payment option, whether it be cash, a credit/debit card, or one of the many different types of contactless payments, is an excellent approach to reduce friction and create a great user experience. One example is the fact that adding a cashless payment option often results in an increase in vending machine sales of 20% or more.
Adding the ability to pay with a card or a mobile phone, however, is only half the battle. In order to give employees of customers access to free or reduced goods on certain machines in the office or factory, operators can also integrate closed-loop payment systems.
A good example of this is Linkitsoft’s QuickPik, a loyalty platform and mobile payment app for employees that enables employers to provide staff free or discounted goods and beverages. This is a solution that is particularly tempting to pandemic-affected businesses because it offers opportunities to set discounts and develop a range of bonus programs for different staff groups. Companies want to cut costs, but employees like the simplicity of contactless payments.
Conclusion
You can get the information about your vending machines that you desire with the help of IoT and telemetry tools. They give you the business intelligence you need to keep on top of the game and enable you to be proactive in guaranteeing smooth operations. At Linkitsoft, They specifically assist you in keeping track of the uptime, stock, selection, and delivery—the top four elements that affect vending machine profitability.
