We got accustomed to the fact that vendor is a kind of universal salesman (tradesman) serving tirelessly the customers’ needs. But there are lots of other effective instruments hidden under a perfect salesman. Any vendor can serve as an advertiser, promoter or brand maker...

We got accustomed to the fact that vendor is a kind of universal salesman (tradesman) serving tirelessly the customers’ needs. But there are lots of other effective instruments hidden under a perfect salesman. Any vendor can serve as an advertiser, promoter or brand maker.

One can present marketing abilities of vending machines by way of the following instruments:

1. Vending machine is a space for advertisement. Publicity drive by means of vending machines.

2. Sales promoting (vending-promoting and vend-branding )

3. Subsequent sales statistical analysis

1. Publicity drive by means of vending machines.

Having bought and installed a gumball machine, a vending-operator becomes the owner of a whole series of advertising instruments that may be used with a view to increase sales as well as sold to companies interested in advertising.

A pleasant peculiarity of such kind of advertising is the fact that a vending-operator doesn’t need to pay for the use of these advertising tools – the equipment is working and making a profit.

Advertisement on vending machines has the following distinctive features:

- impulsive purchase effect is used. A purchase through a vending machine is mostly impulsive (in marketing research it is characterized as “I want it now” purchase). That’s why advertising on vending machines contains such slogans as “now”, “right now”, “here and now” etc.

- it is becoming a habit to use some food stuffs: Working in one and the same place for months and years the vendor is forming the customers’ habit of consuming specific food stuffs. As time goes by, this habit exceeds the limits of vending trade and becoming a habit of the whole life.

Therefore, in many countries the struggle for vending in educational institutions (schools, universities) is keeping up. This is a market with prolongation. Young people are very sensitive, easily submitted to the influence of advertising. Getting accustomed to some goods, a pupil becomes a constant consumer of it. Here is just one of the examples: a young man was very fond of black beer. Before entering the university he was in a habit of drinking black beer, thinking much neither about producer, nor brand. Entering the university he was consuming more and more beer. But as the university campus was controlled by only one brand, the student’s taste was based on this specific brand. If you consume one and the same product for dinner as well as at parties and cafes from year to year – you keep its name in mind nolens volens, get used to it so much that just this product’s taste reminds you of your youth, your student years etc. Many years later a man consumes the same product.

It is necessary to take into account that neither teachers nor parents like advertisements on vending machines in educational institutions. Sometimes in educational institutions white sheets of paper are stuck on gumball machine advertisements for the students not to fall prey to unnecessary buying. In 2003 in one of the American states the action for saving pupils from advertising influence took place under the aegis of civil union against school education commercialization. The schools council of Seattle city issued an order to withdraw any information containing advertising from vending machine bodies. The body may only have the information necessary for the product identification – that is the company’s name, logotype, contacts, the product’s name, its ingredients etc. But never advertisements! In case of non-observance of the order there was a kind of punishment - symbolical arrest of the machines. A group of enterprising parents stuck blank sheets of paper on the advertisements, and in some cases when the operator didn’t heed the requests for changing the machine’s appearance - the machine was just taken away from this place.

- even if a machine vends few food stuffs, it is constantly advertising goods. There is a rule: “I’m selling what I’m advertising” and vice versa.

Advertisement on vending machines – is one of the ways to increase sales. From world practice: the Coca-Cola company having been decorated its gumball machines with three-dimensional advertisements (three-dimensional photos HumanEyes), the drink sales of these machines appreciably increased.

The larger gumball machines network, the more versatile the scope of advertising. A large network of vending machines lets us single out a specific group of people, it means make effective advertising. For instance, the machines can be sorted according to their location: in bedroom communities, in public offices, trade centers, entertaining parks etc. Every place has its special auditorium to present corresponding advertising information to.

One can single out the following types of advertising through vendors:

Attaching advertisement to vendor’s body.

The body of the gumball machine – is the ideal place to attach advertisement to. Depending on the type of the machine we can use front panel, side panels or the whole body. Such kind of advertisement can be attached as a sticker or molding, that may be highlighted.

One of the advantages of the advertisements on machine bodies – is simplicity of its replacement, comparatively small charge for making and replacement of advertisements.

Vending machines of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, M&M’s and some other companies can serve as an example of effective use of vendor surface. Vendor bodies of these companies are decorated with the company advertisement, and such an advertisement keeps the effect of trade mark recognition in any part of the world, country, city.

Nowadays, many national companies (vending-operators as well as vending machine producers) offer to locate advertisement on equipment bodies. Even front areas of shoe cleaning machines are leased for placing advertisement on them.

Locating of advertisements on goods packing

In cases when the stuff is formed by the vending-operator, the latter could use the goods packing for the purpose of advertising. Using the goods the customer is getting acquainted with the advertising information. It may be advertisement of the establishment, where the vending machine is located, or advertisement of a vending machine network, shop nets etc.

Advertisements on vendor screens.

Many up-to-date vendors are provided with liquid crystal displays. By means of these displays the customer is getting acquainted with the range of goods, and their description, is selecting specific goods etc.

The display can give the customer any commercial information: textual description, short video reel. At that, the type of the shown video depends on the kind of goods and a number of other factors that is the advertising will find a special group of customers. A reel can occupy the whole screen as well as some part of it (for instance, a creeping line).

Ultra-modern vending machines can purposefully conduct advertising campaigns and use such instruments as selling of two items at the price of one item; selling goods, being on sale longer than a fixed period, at a discount. Thus, for instance, a vendor could be coded to sale goods at 10% discount during lunch brake (or at night). There are no restrictions on conducting different kinds of campaign. While serving a client a vendor can simultaneously be showing an ad reel or informing about soon coming commercial actions, carrying out through other machines of the network.

Taking into account abilities to combine vendors in order to build a network, advertising campaigns can be conducted through hundreds or thousands of machines simultaneously.

In the USA, Japan it is becoming more and more actual to conduct advertising campaigns through vending machines. It is conditioned by the ability to deliver the advertisement to a specific group of customers.

Taking into account touch displays upsizing we can speak about increase in the auditorium for such kind of advertisement. Now one can show a trailer around the clock (for instance, in airport building) and thereby attract not only customers through vending machines, but also passers-by.

Audio advertising can take place along with video. It may be soundtrack playback during buying process as well as while potential customers are passing by.

2. Sales promoting and new brands promoting

A vending machine works with an ultimate consumer. The provider needn’t spend money on advertising of a new product through mass media – the product will inform the customer about itself .

A vending machine net can be used as an instrument for new goods, trade marks promotion.

Firstly, a new product can be added to the installed working vending machine, having its own constant buyers. The buyers pay attention to appearance of some novelty, buy it, keep the brand name in mind.

In future the customers will purchase that brand name products in other sales outlets, perhaps not only through vending machines. In such a case vendor will serve as a promoter of a new product, an instrument of a new brand coming-to-be.

Secondly, a company can purchase vending machines (or place an order for custom production to manufacturers) so as to sell its own product. The machines are placed in trade outlets, and a novelty, surely, attracts the customers’ attention.

An example from world practice: in September, 2005 in Singapore an advertising company installed several machines vending balls. In that way the Nike company is attracting people’s attention to football, the trade mark and sporting production.

3. Sales statistical analysis

Owning a net of dozens, thousands or even more machines a vending-operator has sale statistics of every machine. Such statistics – is rather a valuable information, as the analysis lets us draw a conclusion about demand for this or that goods, rush, seasonality, places of popular demand etc. Ultimately, the received data is the basis for effective organization of an advertising campaign, management of consumers’ taste.

Statistics using is chiefly important in practical purpose, for example, if an operator is planning to start dealing with a new food stuff. There is no necessity to fill the whole park of machines with it (to travel over hundreds of machines). He can fill 3-5 trial machines with this stuff, then in a week-month, on the basis of these machines’ sales data, he will know, if it is worth using the new merchandise in other machines. Low sales of the trial machines means the merchandise is not liquid. Rush stands for it means it is high time to fill all the other machines.