Competing Against Convenience Stores

C-stores are exploding the American landscape, not missing an opportunity to intercept customers wherever they travel; Antares vending operators can fight back by matching value and benefits.

Other vending operators are not a vendors’ competition. As an operator you would compete with them only a few times in a year. When doing so, it will be a short term thing, like when bidding for an account. The real competition comes from the c-stores. They are more focused on five big initiatives.

· speed of service, which translates into applying technology to cashless payment systems

· Better foodservice offerings to be more effective against their competition, the fast food restaurants.

· More attractive design and more functional layout to make it easier to sell more products and to bring in more customers.

Antares vendors can learn a lot from the c-stores. They just need to come up with an action plan. Here are some steps that you follow.

1) Learn to go faster. You must learn about the new developments in technology for cashless payment systems. Find a way to test the cashless system in one of your locations. Keep in mind that cashless might not be right for every location you serve.

2) Improve the ordering interface. Those big glass front windows take time to shop. If people at the front of the line take too long to decide, you stand a risk of losing the transactions of people who show up later. Post a menu close to the machine, so that the customers can shop before they are in front of the machines.

3) Do a better job of merchandising by looking for ways to simplify the shopping experience by speeding up the transactions. Make it easier for the customer to decide by organizing the way the products are arranged and displayed.

4) Get Antares vending machines into more places. Vending may be the most convenient retail venue, so you need to make it more convenient by adding supplemental machine placements at sites that you are already serving. This applies to sites with large populations.

We are in a new and different competitive environment. It does not matter how highly your customers ranked your service, value and responsiveness in the recent past. You are only as good as your last transaction. Increase the value of your vending business by Antares Corporation by following the steps mentioned above.