For novices, investing in Zhigou vending machines is a choice full of opportunities yet also quite challenging. To start a successful entrepreneurial journey in this field and achieve desirable profits, it is necessary to pay attention to many key points. The following will analyze these crucial points in detail for novice investors, helping you avoid detours and gain a firm foothold in the vending machine business.
I. Preliminary Market Research
Understanding Market Demand
Market demand is the fundamental factor that determines the success or failure of the vending machine business. Before making an investment, it is essential to thoroughly investigate the local demand for various products sold by vending machines. For example, if the vending machine is planned to be placed near a school, students usually have a considerable demand for beverages and snacks. During breaks or after school, they will always go to the vending machine to buy their favorite snacks and drinks to satisfy their cravings or replenish energy. While near office buildings, busy office workers are more inclined to buy coffee to refresh themselves or choose some light food items as convenient meals.
In addition, changes in seasons and time periods also affect demand. In summer, refreshing cold drinks will be bestsellers; in winter, hot drinks and warm items are more popular. In the morning, people may buy breakfast foods, and in the afternoon, it is the peak consumption time for snacks and drinks. Only by carefully understanding these patterns of demand changes can the products sold by the vending machine precisely meet the needs of customers and increase sales.
Analyzing the Competition Situation
"Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger." It is crucial to fully understand the competition situation around the planned placement area. Carefully check the number of existing vending machines, their specific locations, and the types of products they sell. If a certain area is already filled with numerous vending machines and the products are highly homogenized, entering this market may face fierce competition, and the share of the "cake" you can get will naturally be limited.
Therefore, try to find locations with relatively less competition for placement, such as emerging communities where commercial facilities are still being gradually improved, or relatively vacant areas inside factories. Placing vending machines in these places will have a better chance of attracting customers, quickly opening up the market, and increasing your market share.
II. Selection of Vending Machines
Matching the Type of Item Channels
The type of item channels in a vending machine is directly related to what kinds of products can be sold and how smoothly the selling process will be. Different item channels have their own advantages and application ranges.
The spiral item channel is an "ideal partner" for bottled and canned beverages. Through its unique spiral structure, it can accurately and stably push beverages, effectively avoiding jams and ensuring that each bottle of beverage can be smoothly delivered to customers.
The spring/conveyor belt item channels are more flexible and suitable for placing relatively light products such as snacks and bread. Through the expansion and contraction of springs or the rotation of conveyor belts, the display positions of products can be conveniently adjusted to meet the diverse layout needs of products.
The multi-door grid cabinets are like small "storage rooms", especially suitable for products with irregular shapes, large volumes, or product combinations for package sales. For example, some beautifully packaged gifts, handicrafts, or discount packages combining beverages and snacks can all be placed in them.
For fragile and easily damaged products such as boxed meals, fruits, and vegetables, vending machines with elevators are the ideal choice. They can gently and accurately deliver the products to the delivery outlet, maximizing the integrity of the products.
Novice investors should reasonably choose vending machines with corresponding item channel types according to the types of products they plan to sell to ensure an efficient and orderly product selling process.
Brand and Quality
In the dazzling vending machine market, brand and quality are factors that cannot be ignored. Giving priority to well-known brands of vending machines is a wise choice to ensure a smooth investment. Big brands usually have stricter production processes and quality control standards. The vending machines produced by them are excellent in durability and stability, which can reduce the troubles caused by frequent equipment failures and repairs.
Moreover, vending machines of big brands usually have more comprehensive functions. They will support multiple mainstream payment methods such as WeChat and Alipay, which is convenient for customers to make purchases and improves the convenience of transactions. At the same time, they are equipped with a full-featured wireless remote management back-end. Investors can log in to the back-end through mobile phones or computers at any time and anywhere to clearly monitor the operation data of the vending machines, such as real-time understanding of product sales and inventory levels. Based on this data, they can replenish stocks and adjust product categories in a timely manner, greatly reducing labor and material costs and making operation and management easy and efficient.
Purchase or Lease Decision
When deciding how to obtain vending machines, novice investors need to weigh the pros and cons of purchasing and leasing. If you only plan to operate the vending machine business in the short term, leasing machines will be a good choice. This can avoid a large amount of capital investment in purchasing equipment at one time, relieve capital pressure, and if you find that the business is not going well during the lease period, you can also exit more flexibly.
However, if you have a long-term business plan, from a long-term perspective, purchasing machines is more cost-effective. Although a relatively large amount of money needs to be paid for the purchase in the early stage, as time goes by, the cost of using the equipment will be gradually amortized and reduced. Moreover, there is no need to worry about issues such as the expiration of the lease term and the return of the equipment. You can modify and upgrade the vending machines more independently to better adapt to market changes and business development needs.
III. Selection and Management of Goods
Combination of Goods Types
Goods are like the "soul" of the vending machine business. Selecting appropriate types of goods and making a scientific combination is the key to increasing sales. Fast-moving consumer goods should be the core component of the products in vending machines, such as common snacks, beverages, instant noodles, etc. These products have a wide audience and a high consumption frequency, which can ensure a stable cash flow for the vending machines.
However, this is not enough. It is also necessary to further optimize the combination of product types according to the placement location and the characteristics of the target population. For example, near schools, you can appropriately increase cultural and creative products and novel small toys that are popular among students; in communities, in addition to daily food and drinks, some daily necessities such as toilet paper and detergent can also be included. Avoid having too single types of products. Combine best-selling products, high-profit products, and potential products for sales, so as to meet the diverse needs of different customer groups, attract more people to buy, and improve the overall sales performance.
Inventory Management
Effective inventory management is an important link to ensure the smooth operation of vending machines and good capital turnover. Novice investors should learn to reasonably determine the replenishment quantity and time of goods by analyzing sales data. With the help of the sales records provided by the vending machine back-end, you can clearly see the sales situation of different products in different time periods. Based on these data, you can accurately judge which products are bestsellers and which are slow-moving, and then adjust the replenishment plan accordingly.
It is necessary to avoid out-of-stock situations. Once out-of-stock occurs, it will not only disappoint customers and lead to the loss of potential business but also may affect customers' trust and favorability towards the vending machine. At the same time, it is also necessary to prevent inventory backlogs. Excessive inventory will occupy a large amount of capital, increase operating costs, and put pressure on capital turnover. Only by precisely controlling inventory can the efficiency of capital use be improved and the vending machine business operate healthily.
IV. Location Selection
Flow of People and Consumption Capacity
Location selection is the lifeblood of the vending machine business, and the flow of people and consumption capacity are important indicators for measuring the quality of a location. Priority should be given to locations with a large flow of people and where the consumption capacity matches the prices of the products in the vending machines for placement, such as the halls, waiting rooms, etc. of schools, factories, hospitals, subway stations, high-speed railway stations. In these places, people are in a relatively leisurely state and are more likely to go to the vending machines to buy products, bringing stable customer sources to the vending machines.
However, it is necessary to avoid some locations that seem to have a large flow of people but are actually inconvenient for purchases. For example, although the platforms of subway stations are crowded with people, they are usually in a hurry and it is difficult for them to stop to buy products. Even if vending machines are placed there, the business may be relatively sluggish.
Enclosure of the Place and Degree of Competition
Relatively enclosed and less competitive places have natural advantages for the operation of vending machines. In such an environment, customers' choices are relatively limited, which can effectively reduce competitors and increase the probability of customers buying products from your vending machines. For example, downstairs in school dormitories, when students return to the dormitories to rest, if there are not too many other convenience stores and the like around, they will be more willing to buy the items they need from the vending machines downstairs; another example is inside factories, during the break time of workers, if there is only this convenient vending machine nearby, it will naturally become their first choice for consumption.
Therefore, novice investors should pay more attention to such places when looking for locations, make early arrangements, and seize the opportunity to create favorable conditions for the good operation of vending machines.
Operational Convenience
In addition to considering the flow of people and competition factors, it is also necessary to take into account the operational convenience of the location. Ensure that there are appropriate passages and spaces when installing the vending machines to facilitate the handling and placement of the equipment; when replenishing stocks later, the transportation should be convenient so that the replenishment vehicles or personnel can quickly and smoothly arrive, reducing the replenishment time and cost. Meanwhile, pay attention to the composition and age distribution of the surrounding population, and further optimize the types of products sold by the vending machines and marketing methods according to this information to ensure that the entire operation process is efficient and smooth, minimizing operating costs and improving operational efficiency.
V. Cost Control
Equipment Procurement Cost
At the beginning of the investment, the equipment procurement cost is a significant expense. Therefore, under the premise of ensuring the quality and functions of the equipment, carefully compare the prices of vending machines of different manufacturers and models and choose products with high cost-performance. Don't be attracted only by low prices and ignore the quality, nor blindly pursue high-end and expensive equipment and cause waste of funds. By learning more about the market conditions, consulting experienced practitioners, and conducting on-site inspections of the products of different manufacturers, comprehensively evaluate the performance, price, and after-sales service of the equipment, and select the vending machines that are most suitable for your investment budget and business needs, so that every penny is spent wisely.
Operating Costs
Operating costs cover aspects such as site rent, electricity fees, and replenishment transportation fees. Reasonable control of these costs is the key to increasing the profit margin.
Site rent is an important part of operating costs. Try to choose sites with lower rent and suitable locations, and have friendly negotiations with the site owners to strive for more favorable lease terms, such as signing long-term lease contracts to obtain rent discounts.
Optimizing the replenishment route cannot be ignored. By reasonably planning the transportation route and connecting multiple vending machine locations in series, unnecessary distances and transportation times can be reduced, and the replenishment transportation cost can be reduced.
At the same time, pay attention to saving electricity, choose energy-efficient vending machine equipment, and reasonably set the standby and working time parameters of the vending machines to avoid unnecessary power consumption and reduce electricity expenses, so as to achieve the overall optimization of operating costs and improve the profitability of the business.
VI. Marketing and Promotion
Offline Promotion
Even if the vending machine is well located and the products are of high quality, it is difficult to let more customers know about it and come to buy without effective marketing and promotion. Offline promotion is a direct and effective way. Novice investors can distribute flyers and post posters around the vending machines and in places where the target population is concentrated. The content of flyers and posters should be carefully designed to introduce the special products, preferential activities, and other attractive highlights in the vending machines in detail, attract the attention of passers-by, stimulate their purchasing desire, and guide them to go to the vending machines to make purchases, thereby increasing the sales volume of the vending machines.
Online Promotion
In the Internet age, the power of online promotion cannot be underestimated. Using social media platforms and local life service platforms for promotional activities can quickly expand the popularity and influence of vending machines. You can take some pictures or shoot interesting short videos of the vending machines with an attractive appearance and a wide variety of products, accompanied by vivid and attractive captions, and post them on platforms such as WeChat official accounts, Douyin, and Dianping, along with the specific location information of the vending machines and relevant topics to attract the attention of surrounding users, let more potential customers know the existence of the vending machines, and then increase the exposure and customer flow of the vending machines, injecting new vitality into the development of the business.
VII. After-sales Service
Equipment Maintenance
During the long-term use of vending machines, it is inevitable that some malfunctions will occur. At this time, the timeliness of equipment maintenance is particularly important. When novice investors choose vending machine manufacturers, they should fully understand the quality of their after-sales service and response speed to ensure that the equipment can be repaired in time when malfunctions occur. A good manufacturer should be able to provide rapid repair services, reduce the impact of downtime on the business, ensure that the vending machines can resume normal operation as soon as possible, and avoid customer loss and economic losses caused by equipment malfunctions.
Technical Support
For novices, it is not easy to master skills such as the use, management, and analysis of back-end data of vending machines proficiently. This requires vending machine manufacturers to provide professional technical support and training services. Manufacturers should be able to conduct detailed explanations and training for novice investors on aspects such as the operation process of vending machines, key points of daily maintenance, and usage methods of the back-end system, helping them become familiar with the business as soon as possible, operate the vending machines better, and achieve a smooth transition from novices to experts, so that the investment can achieve the desired returns.
In conclusion, novice investors in Zhigou vending machines need to comprehensively consider all the above points. Each link is interrelated and affects the success or failure of the business. Only by doing every job carefully and managing with heart can they start a successful entrepreneurial journey in the field of vending machines and achieve the goal of wealth growth. I hope these points can help novice investors, and wish everyone a smooth investment!
