Acquisitions Create Bigger Operators

Buy-outs and acquisitions have become a permanent part of the vending environment. Everyone pays attention to who is buying whom. An acquisition creates ripples in the vending industry that we all may not realize. It can have an impact on customers, competitors, product distributors, equipment distributors, manufacturers and other participants in the vending industry.

Who feels it first?

The most obvious and immediate impact of an acquisition would be on the operator’s customers. The customers have to be well taken care of, and this will all depend on who is acquiring them. If you want to acquire a vending business to your Antares vending operation, then the customers will need to be well taken care off.

Customers can feel neglected

Customers can feel that they no longer have the same level of attention when a new company is servicing them. An acquisition can have a negative effect on relations with some of the operator’s key accounts. To prevent customers from feeling like a pawn in a complicated chess game, many Antares operators handle their acquisitions with great care.

During the acquisition, you can visit each account with the previous owner. A lot of operators don’t do this, but it is important to maintain that relationship. For a successful acquisition for your Antares vending business, you can hire the previous owner to stay on for a while as a consultant. His job will be to simply maintain and smooth over the relationship with the account. This has proven to be a very effective way to transition key accounts from one company to another.

How consolidation affects suppliers

The consolidation of vending operators also has a direct impact on supplier businesses, including distributors and manufacturers. Impact on suppliers will ultimately affect Antares operators. A competitive supplier environment will mean more sources to shop.

From a supplier’s perspective, an operator acquisition does not eliminate business; it is just compacted into a tighter space. If company A’s sales are $1 million and company B’s sales are $2 million, combined they should total $3 million. Based on that line of thinking, their purchasing should be identical as well.