Lets have an open debate about vending

[Rossi fan]

Over the last few months product costs have reduced significantly. Before Sweetfix, many operators were concerned about the long term future of tower vending; now prices seem to be lower across the board. I have said that I believe that this sort of debate should be in an open forum, so all suppliers have a chance to comment.

Now, the forum has been opened up to all and three minican vending suppliers are all registered, I would like to see posts from all suppliers about the types of service they are offering, to operators and what may be changing in the future.

This is your chance to influence operators, so I hope it works well for both suppliers and operators alike.

In addition, this is an opportunity for operators to let suppliers know their thoughts on what is right and wrong with vending, so continual improvements to service and stability in pricing can be achieved for as long as possible.

Thanks,

Paul

[dorsetvending]

Within a few days this thread will be full of fantastic offers Paul - the question is why now? Why not in the past 6 years I have been an operator?

tubz vending vouchers were a start but took a long time to collect full sheet.

Virgo were the first truly price competitive company but there pot labelling was on their admission basic. I continued to use them as their customer service was first class. I simply went there when I needed stock and they supplied it. No phonecalls each week, no sales patter. Just what do you need? We'll see if we have it. 95% of the time they had it in stock or they would make it up. Brian and the girls were friendly plus the tea was always welcome If you needed stock sent next day delivery was guaranteed - what you ordered always arrived on time and to the order you requested. Efficient and timely - you couldn't ask for better.

I will leave other operators to discuss the merits of tubz vending, Hurleys and Vending Revolution. I have my own opinions but in the interests of the discussion would like to hear their views before mine.

You wanted it to be open Paul for the reasons stated, lets see where this goes. I'm looking for the same answers as you are. Thank you for starting this thread.

[FlintVending]

Although I feel I have paid too much in the past I do not feel I have been ripped off by any of the suppliers nor feel agrieved at any of them.
Like any Business, its all about supply and demand.
Fact is, when there was less competition, they could keep there prices high and if I was a supplier thats what I would have done!
The inherent risk in this stratergy is it does indeed encourage competition!
Obviously, tubz vending and Vending Revolution now find themselves trying to undercut more recently spawned competitors which you could argue might not even been started had tubz vending and Vending Revolution not been so greedy in the first place!
If tubz vending and Vending Revolution have been shrewd, they would have money put asside to fight off the newcomers in the inevitable price war, thereby starving the new players out of the market.
Do Vending Revolution and tubz vending have deep enough pockets to continue this price war? personally, I haven't a clue??
The facts are that the new suppliers saw an opportunity to Undercut tubz vending and Vending Revolution whilst still making an acceptable mark up. End of Story!

[Rossi fan]

Within a few days this thread will be full of fantastic offers Paul - the question is why now? Why not in the past 6 years I have been an operator?

tubz vending vouchers were a start but took a long time to collect full sheet.

Virgo were the first truly price competitive company but there pot labelling was on their admission basic. I continued to use them as their customer service was first class. I simply went there when I needed stock and they supplied it. No phonecalls each week, no sales patter. Just what do you need? We'll see if we have it. 95% of the time they had it in stock or they would make it up. Brian and the girls were friendly plus the tea was always welcome If you needed stock sent next day delivery was guaranteed - what you ordered always arrived on time and to the order you requested. Efficient and timely - you couldn't ask for better.

I will leave other operators to discuss the merits of tubz vending, Hurleys and Vending Revolution. I have my own opinions but in the interests of the discussion would like to hear their views before mine.

You wanted it to be open Paul for the reasons stated, lets see where this goes. I'm looking for the same answers as you are. Thank you for starting this thread.

Hi Gavin,

I wish I had had a supplier so near, it would be bliss to go and get the stock just when you needed it is the quantity you needed.

I am just hoping that this post will allow Hurleys, Sweetfix, tubz vending and Vending Revolution a chance to put forward their plans, so everyone is equal and then operators can choose who they want to deal with.

Regards,

Paul

[glennborthwick]

its a complex issue really. A real full out price war will end up with the least efficient going out of business so the benefit is short term. From an operator point of view you want all suppliers to have a chunk of the market, make reasonable profits at a sustainable price whilst maintaining the £1 vend price point for operators. We went to buy 9 get one free, somebody could respond to buy 8 get one free, and so on until its buy 1 get one free. All but one company goes out of the industry then prices go back up to over £30 a box and every operators business is back in trouble. Luckily because we have over 300 towers ourselves and have other guaranteed customers our own volumes pay all of our fixed costs plus some so even a full out war at breakeven we will be fine.

From a marketing point of view we are in the growth phase, gaining customers so have to be innovative in our offers. Realistically we will probably give operators who have bought before a few days grace privately before putting it out on the forum as the last time we announced a offer it was known about by competitors within an hour even when the forum was closed.

Also you need to make sure that existing buyers are treated properly. Theres nothing more annoying than your mortgage provider offering better deals to new customers than you so its a bit like that.

Christian at atn who went through this same rapid phase with toys gave me some very sage advice which is that its very easy to keep a few customers happy but the key is to grow steadily month on month delivering on terms of customer service etc. We could easily knock boxes out at £20 a pop. Gain 300 customers wanting stock then have all sorts of cashflow issues getting it ready.

This first six months is about getting the branding right, getting costings right our end. Running the operation as efficiently as possible so prices are right for the consumer and for us to make money. Its also about showing that we take responsibility when things go wrong, i.e broken in transit.

[Rossi fan]

Hi,
I would just like to say that I do not want to see any company go to the wall due to having to price cut until death. Competition is not about killing another business. Competition is about balancing the market and getting a fair deal for both customers and suppliers alike. I think I speak for most on this. I hope so.

I believe that there is room for all. If prices remain lower, them more people will get into vending, therefore overall profits will rise.

Thanks,

Paul

[kris@tubzbrandsltd]

Hi all,

As you all know that vending is all about getting as much profit back as possible form a single £1 coin vend.
When I was always told by operators (independent or otherwise) that they have been offered lower prices tubz vending brands have always asked for proof and have always stated that we will not just price match but beat any like for like product FACT!!!!.

Now since Hurleys started up at the begining of last year with good competitive prices we had to make sure that the prices being told were indeed correct. Competition is great and with more personnel such as sweet fix entering the market with even cheaper pricing we @ tubz vending needed to make sure that we had to be competitive with them as well.

We have now recently re-introduced the voucher card system so, if you deal with tubz vending and need to know more please feel free to ask your point of contact. We at tubz vending brands have just invested a mass amount of money for a brand new multi head automated packing equipment which has ment that our costs for making the product have lowered even further and that we can offer even better competitive prices.

For example with Nigel, whom i talk to, I always tell him the prices we have to offer and as to why, and how. tubz vending brands has never been in a stronger financial position then ever before, with even Salysol letting us order their stock for the tower vendors that still use tinned savoury products & also allowing us to order in the M42, & if their was a high demand for them the M81's.

I know that this forum is open and other competitors can view but where our position is strong we can lower our prices to stay competitive in the tower vending industry.

I need to make sure that I have got the permission from the forum administrators before I can show you guys the prices we can offer. The majority whom deal with myself will have already received a e-mail stating the prices I can offer, and when sweet fix do their extra promotions at certain intervals through out the year we can look at beating those prices as well.

Please also remember that with all our lowered prices we offer free next day delivery on orders over 60 cases.

[dorsetvending]

One problem that has reared its head has been a two tiered pricing system where one sales rep offers a customer a certain price, but when calling to secure that price for yourself a denial that this price had been offered at all. I know 100% certain that the lower prices were offered and by the same rep. How would this make u feel? From that point trust had been totally broken.

[kris@tubzbrandsltd]

Hi Gavin,

Me, Jon & Paul have only got certain boundries before we need to pass things through Frank & Simon, as like any company if a demand is out of your hands you need to ask.

Now i know that different prices have been branded to different operators in the past, i will put this forward as a concern that operators have, but now is the time to make sure that what we are offering this across the board. I value the customers that call in and place orders even if it is 2 boxes or 22 boxes very order is thanked by by slef because at the end of the day a business cannot run with no custom. We have always stated this in our past newsletters that without you operators as customers we wouldnt be here. SO FROM MYSELF GUYS THANK YOU FOR YOUR CUSTOM!!!

With more operators looking to dive into different routes of vending (i.e toy vending, washroom vending)

we are all here to make money to survive...

[Jon123]

Seeing as all is fair in love and war I have attached the most recent offer from tubz vending 9 days ago which some of you will have seen and some not. My understanding is if your are a fairly big independent you will have seen it and if you are not you will not have seen.

Kris I think your a decent chap and will carry on ordering my 10 boxes a month off you. But there is serious double standards saying you will beat everyprice sweetfix offers as in the attachment you can see only 1 price was beaten the rest were only matched. I understand you are not the decision maker and ultimately it is frank and simon who call the shots but as this will turn it to some form of a price war it would be silly for sweetfix to carry on taking the punches without even defending themselves. especially when sweetfix is constantly name dropped in a bad manner.

The way I see it is tubz vending cannot afford to offer all these prices to all there customers they only offer it to those who have the ability and enertia to move around to the most competitive supplier. Where as sweet fix open up all there offers to all potential customers.

Cheers
Jon