Skillful vending machine management can significantly improve the efficiency and comfort of the operator. The result of good vending planning is often an increase in sales profits and even an increase in the fleet of machines. How to manage vending machines and not get lost in a jungle of tables, orders and notes? How to operate with 5, 50 or 200 machines?
How to manage a few vending machines
With 5 or 10 vending machines, monitoring the machines is not as easy as it often seems at first. Questions arise: How often do I check the machine for shortages? How do I schedule product deliveries? How do I know when a machine is not working or not giving change?
Often, operators who have several machines do not opt for the support of a management system and control the machines themselves. This is the traditional method, which involves writing down the number of missing products on a piece of paper and filling in these shortages. To summarise the products sold and create a new order, it is necessary to collect all the slips and enter the shortage of each product in an Excel sheet.
Modern vending management applications and systems help to streamline the entire process significantly, without requiring you to buy additional equipment. If you're not yet determined to purchase payment terminals or telemetry modems to automatically monitor your vending machines, you can still reap the benefits of a vending management system. What are these benefits?
 |
Traditional management |
|---|---|
| entering number of sold products in convenient mobile application | writing down sold products on a piece of paper |
| summary of sales results in one place | manual data entry to Excel |
| ready list of products to order | guesstimating next orders |
| reporting of problems and failures through the mobile application | failure notifications only by phone or e-mail |
You can use the vending management system without having to buy additional equipment. However, please note that connecting the system via a telemetry modem or terminal allows you to exploit the full potential of VendingMetrics. What additional options and benefits does the system offer when you decide to buy a modem in the Starter package?
- Remote Refund - when you receive a notification that a product has not fallen out of the vending machine, you can respond immediately and remotely add credit to the machine so the customer can use it right away. The refund can be done from the app on the phone and the amount will appear in the vending machine right away.
- Vending machine inventory level - check the status of products in the vending machine in one place. You don't have to go to the vending machine to check the status of the products.
- Prepared list of sold products - you know how many products need to be refilled without leaving home and writing them down on a piece of paper. All sales information is sent from the vending machine automatically.
How to manage a larger number of vending machines?
With a larger number of machines, a management system is an essential element in the daily work. Purchasing a telemetry modem or integrating with card readers allows you to monitor the machines remotely. Telemetry helps optimise operations, increase staff productivity and improve overall sales and vending machine performance.
Additional options that make it easier to manage more machines in VendingMetrics are:
- Assigning vending machines to employees - the supplier or service technician will only see the machines they are responsible for servicing.
- Creating groups of machines, so you can monitor sales for selected groups or locations.
- Product warehouse - in one place you can check the status of products in the machines and in your warehouse. Create orders from the virtual warehouse.
- Support for prepaid cards is an additional payment option you can offer your customers or employees.
- Notification of breakdowns and downtime - when a machine stops working, the system can send a notification via SMS, email or mobile app. With notifications, you can significantly reduce breakdown time and not lose sales.
If you're not sure how to manage your vending machines or which plan is right for your business, let us know at [email protected]. We will help you choose the best option for your machines!
You can read more about vending management systems in the article: What is vending telemetry.
