Boosting Sales at Tired Tower Sites

[radical.richard]

Hi guys

Still new at this only 8 months in, but I'm noticing sites that month on month I have worse and worse sales. I know there is a honey moon period, but how long does it last.

I have also heard you need to rotate stock, i.e. bring in new lines to generate new business. I am happy to do this if it boosts sales, but what I was thinking is, if you put a new product in, how do you attract the attention of the person walking past that boring old vending tower they walk past every day and show them there is something new?

I thought about getting 'NEW' stickers made, but what happens if that's facing the the wall. So I thought how about a sort of flag that slots into the top lock with a product sticker on it showing whats new in the tower. Havent worked out how to construct it yet, but have any of you got any tips ideas on 1) how to boost flagging sales on a site and 2) how to make a flag that will be on top of the tower? or any other system that works for you.

Many thanks for all suggestions.

[Siting Services]

Hi Richard

Many sites have fluctuations in sales - yes you do have the honeymoons which normally lasts for a few months. After that period you will have sites whose sales stay the same, fall or increase. Sometimes you have to sit it out and wait for a few more months to see what happens. Sometimes it could be a member of staff has left and the machine bombs!

Things to do, which I am sure you do anyway are:-

- change a few lines at each visit
- ensure machine is clean and tidy, including stand
- check labels and replace any which are dog-eared
- double up on popular lines
- change position of machine - if possible
- chat to your customers and ask what they would like

We once looked at placing a “crown” around the top lid then decided against it as most will be pulled off and the task of servicing may take longer if crowns damaged. It’s a hard one to give advice for as there are many factors that can change sales. When a site flagged, we used to remove the tower from site for 6-12 months and when replaced it was like a new site. Unfortunately that is not possible in today’s market as the site will probably get snapped up by another operator.

The most important thing you have to remember is that each tower is a retail outlet and just like the stores on our high street, you have to change your shop windows regularly and keep them clean, it’s retail and if you don’t regularly change your window displays, people become blind.

Hope the above helps.

Barbara

[radical.richard]

Hi Barbara

Thanks again, yes always clean, have an antiback and grease spray in my bag and microfibre cloth. Yes of course double up on popular sell outs and remove none sellers, always use internal Hurleys labels so no problem there and makes for easy cleaning of the tower. I also adjust my refill rota based upon sales so that I hopefully get there before a line sells out and leave the slow sellers for another day even though I may be passing by.

I agree on the shop front, and thats what I guess I was really asking, is how do you present what is perceived as that thing in the corner as a new and exciting thing, like it was on day one? Especially when investing time and stock on new lines?.

Cheers

Richard

[Style]

As Barbara says sometimes they just bomb, some dont even get the honeymoon period, some will be rubbish and then get a new member of staff and fly.
Ive got a care home that bumbles along at £6/7 a month, I only put 4 rows in. One month last year I got a call saying it was empty, filled it to 5 rows, got a call 2 weeks later, filled it completely and had to visit every 3 weeks for about 4 months. Then the new resident died and Im back to £6/7 a month.
The more towers you have the easier it is to accept slow sellers. If a site does £6/7 a month I will just visit every 4/5 months, change all the stock thats left in to keep it fresh. The visit will always coincide with other visits in the area so its only 20 mins work.

Andy

[Snackmore]

The new resident I assume suffered from Diabetes - You murderer

[radical.richard]

The new resident I assume suffered from Diabetes - You murderer

ROTFL

But more seriously are the rest of you seeing a tail off in sales, due to all the hype about sugar and obesity, just watched program tonight 'NewcastleCan' one of meany recently on sugar, obesity and plastic waste ?.

Cheers

[PabloV8Haggis]

As Andy suggested, concentrate on getting more machines out then you will be able to visit every several months, you will then see that it is not such a big issue. We do machine changes on slow sites, that way we get get the old stock back and redirect that stock to locations that sell well. Less chance of losing through out of date stock that way.

Cheers
Pablo

[PGBrew]

My machines are clean and well maintained, filled with best sellers, occasionally introducing new lines, no labels and they sell out. It's all to do with good locations, plenty of them, good footfall & loads of kids. I'm more interested in obtaining a good average sale across my fleet, rather than putting too much effort into a single machine. Try a get multiple machines into any site with the potential for inreased sales.

Nursing homes are a waste of time, staff use then initially, put on weight, go on a diet (stop buying). The machine then settles down to a very low average, half filling the machine to stop stock going out of date. I've only ever had one home maintaining a 20+ average. I currently have one nursing home in my fleet, conformes to above.

Pete

Pete