Vending business opportunity

    /24-7PressRelease/ - DUBLIN, IRELAND, October 11, 2006 - It appears that business opportunities in the vending sector could prove to be very profitable indeed with a little hard work and some business acumen. In 2005, vending machine sales rose 3.1 per cent on the previous year to 3.42 billion ($6.4 billion), underlining the vast potential in the UK market.

The success of the vending market may come as no surprise, considering vending machines can now be found everywhere from the workplace to the high street. Major benefits include the ease in which they can be installed and the fact that the rental space is the only cost.

Vending franchises are not merely constrained to machines either. Essentially, a vending business is one that does not trade from conventional premises. This could be a person coming into workplaces and selling food and drink by hand, for example.

For vending businesses it is very much a case of location, location. This is all important when setting up such an enterprise as the business must operate a service in an area where customer interaction is maximised. The right place for operating must be ascertained and then business planning can be tailored around the location and the target customer.

Most companies will offer training opportunities and on-going support to vending franchisees and one such example is the Original Chocolate Fountain, the largest chocolate fountain operator in the UK. The franchise fee in this case would be between 8,000 ($15,000) and 15,000 ($28,000) and a total financial requirement of 29,000 ($54,000) would be needed.

Personal risk can be minimised in many franchise ventures due to the franchiser following a tried and tested formula of operations that it employs across the board. Allied to this, a franchiser with an established reputation will have much more sway when it comes to grinding out a good deal with suppliers for instance.

It is also of paramount importance to choose the right product when establishing a vending business. Information such as cigarettes showing the slowest growth rate in regards to vending machine sales is something that will obviously affect choosing a cigarette vending machine as a business opportunity.

The growing trend of snacking among youngsters highlights a key area of possible growth. The combined factors that many purchases from vending machines prove to be impulse purchases, linked with the fact that UK spending on savoury snacks and confectionery accounted for sales of 8.8 billion ($16.5 billion) in 2005, points to huge market potential.

US-based vending machine franchiser Vendstar is a prime example of the opportunities available in this sector. The company says that bulk candy vending machines do their own advertising, there are tax advantages to being self-employed and a vending business allows the individual to work from home and choose their own hours.

Copyright Adfero Ltd 2006

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