Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Challenges Of Serving A Mixed Customer Base

Your vending business will face challenges of different kinds while serving a wide customer base. People differ in their tastes and preferences, likes and dislikes. To keep all of your customers satisfied is not a simple task. You have to cater to diverse needs instead of focusing on a single category of people.

United States has a cultural diversity in its population. The native whites are the original inhabitants while the blacks, Asians, Mexicans and other communities are all residents too. Your vending machines will be used by people from all cultures, so you must be prepared to fulfill their varying desires.

While selecting ethnic items for serving a mixed customer base, keep the following factors in mind:

a. Presentation matters
When you are serving immigrants, it is important to focus on the visual appeal of your Antares vending products and machines. Having a vending machine with glass front door is a good idea as it will attract many people. Immigrants are impressed by interesting, attractive designs and products. They will buy by color of the products.

b. Lower prices
You should not expect immigrants to pay much for their purchases. They are frugal spenders and may not buy large amount of vending products at first. So, you cannot expect them to spend as much as other groups.

However, you cannot ignore the ethnic groups as they are a growing part of the American population. Hispanics and Asians are fast growing into the majority groups of the current population, especially in blue collar locations. For many vending companies, such places comprise of major business and revenue generators. That means that you will have to concentrate on serving the needs of these customers.

c. Emphasis by suppliers
Vending machine and product suppliers are focusing on developing technology and products that suit the needs and objectives of vending customers. Hence, marketing strategies are changing in favor of the buyer as compared to the previous emphasis on the seller.

d. Packaging changes
With the customers coming from different ethnic groups, you will have to adopt product packaging that can be easily understood and liked by maximum number of people. Using bilingual text is a good way to reach the immigration population.

All these factors make it essential for you to keep an eye on the type of customers you are catering to and adopt suitable measures to make them happy and coming back for more. Ethnic groups are becoming an important part of the vending customer base and hence, will get more attention in the future.

Bilingual text proves helpful
You can target the Hispanic consumer with bright and colorful packages with bilingual text. Bilingual packaging is important in reaching the immigration population because it shows more authenticity.

If you want to make a decision on whether or not to have ethnic items in your Planet Antares vending machines will all depend on the location that you are catering to. If your machines are in a location with a large ethnic community then it would make financial sense to vend these products.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Why You Should Buy Vending Machines From The Manufacturer

Contrary to popular belief, the best way to buy relaible vending machines is to get them directly from a vending machines manufacturer. That is the best thing that you can do for your business. At Planet Antares Inc, you can get high quality beverage and snack vending machines which are durable as well as attractive.

To start as a vending operator, you must gather some information on the vending industry that can help you make informaed decisions. Planet Antares is the best source for all your vending needs, be it vending machines, products or after sale services. You will get the right information for starting and running a vending business. It’s important to set off on the right foot and Planet Antares corpoartion can ensure that for you. You can access their website to get information, assistance or even buy the vending machines and products directly at competitve prices.

Keep in mind that your vending machines are in good condition and do not break down frequently. Buying equipment from a manufacturer will allow you to gain access to instructions for repairing the vending machines as well as get sound technical support for complex problems that you can’t handle on your own.

Before you select a particular company, it’s best to compare several vendors for vending equipment features, price and services. It is very easy to get reasonably priced, high quality vending machines from Planet Antares Inc. you can choose from a wide range of snack and soda vending machines and it’s simple to place an order too.

Since many years, Planet Antares corporation has been supplying vending machines to hundreds of customers and providing satisfactory services to them. Their wide network is always there to assist you in setting up and operating a successful vending business. This, in combination with professional staff having great knowledge of the vending industry has given them an edge over the other vending machine suppliers. The engineering department of the company designs highly reliable and technically advanced machines. Hence, you will have to face very less mechanical problems and if any, they will be well taken care of.

Buying a vending machine directly from the manufacturer helps you get the right information and products at the least possible cost. There is no extra margin involved, as in case of vending machine retailers. Also, you might get discounts on bulk purchases, useful tips, after sale services and much more. That’s a great way to start and run a smooth veding business.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Valuation Of Vending Business

In recent times, there has increasing amount of pressure on the vending business operators due to rising products and machine prices, competition and changes in government policies. Not only operators but also vending machine distributors and manufacturers have been challenged to maintain the financial stability of their companies.

Some have even been forced to exit the industry to escape losses due to low-performing business. Under such circumstances, there is need to estimate the correct value of their business and prevent under or over valuation. Often your expectations don’t match the reality. This results in a much lower offer than what you expected or estimated. Such differences between the buyer’s offer and the seller’s acceptance price can lead to conflict and dissatisfaction for both parties.

As an Planet Antares vending machine operator, you need to use a sound system of financial valuation that has logical base, both theoretical as well as practical. This can be an effective tool for estimating the selling price correctly.

The most popular and common method of doing such valuation is the Earnings Method. To understand its working, read the below listed steps.
  • The first step will be to gather relevant information about your Antares business. in order to derive a reasonable value for the business, you must make necessary assumptions and use the pertinent data effectively.
  • After assimilating the information, you need to normalize earnings i.e. adjust the income statement according to the generally accepted accounting principles and standards. Also, you will have to remove the non-reoccurring and unusual items.
  • Next, you will have to adjust the normalized earnings for gains, losses and expenses that don’t affect operational cash flow in order to convert the earnings to cash flows. The resulting figure will be the ‘net projected cash flows’.
  • The final step will be to calculate the capitalization rate. This can be done in different ways. You can take the help of your accountant to develop one such method for determination of the rate of capitalization. For example, the build-up model assumes constant earnings, with requirement for deduction of a growth factor in case of growth of expected returns.
Following the above steps will help you in calculating the right value of your Antares vending business. There will be better negotiations as the price will be mathematically deduced. The buyer can be convinced easily through such logical figures and financial data.