SPECIAL
ANNUAL
REP ORT:
STATE
OF
THE
VENDING
INDUSTRY
THE WAIT
FOR RECOVERY
IS OVER
In 2012, the vending industry showed
positive growth as revenues improved.
Operators continued to raise prices,
aggressively invest in technology and
expand heavily into micro markets.
By Emily Refermat, Editor
24
Automatic Merchandiser
CHART 1: INDUSTRY REVENUE IN BILLIONS, 10-YEAR REVIEW
BILLIONS OF DOLLARS
e are through the proverbial tunnel and can see the light. A slowly
recovering economy and increasing
consumer confdence has pushed dollars spent on foodservice upwards,
including those spent in the vending industry. Overall, the four-year
decline in vending operation revenues
fnally ended in fscal 2012. Operators reported an average growth
of 1.86 percentage points, raising
this year's Automatic Merchandiser
State of the Vending Industry Report
aggregate industry revenue to $19.31
billion, up from $18.96 billion in
2011. The growth was accompanied
by more operators raising prices —
83 percent — in a continuing effort
to keep up with increasing product
and operating costs. These operators
met with less resistance than in the
past as end users saw other retailers
also raise prices.
Technology was named as one
of the top factors contributing to
growth, along with the improving economy. Operators reported
investing in systems that allow an
operation to run with higher profts
25
20
22.54 23.21 22.05
21.05 21.26 21.89
19.85 19.25
18.96 19.31
15
10
5
0
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
CHART 2: OPERATOR SALES
% OF 2012
OPERATORS
PROJECTED
2012 SALES
% OF
2012
SALES
PROJECTED
2011 SALES
% OF
2011
SALES
SIZE
REVENUE
RANGE
Small
under $1M
61.32%
$1.32B
7.20%
$1.8B
10%
Medium
$1M - $4.9M
20.60%
1.28B
7%
0.9B
5%
Large
$5M - $9.9M
9%
Extra large
$10M +
8%
TOTAL
2.16B 11.80%
13.57B
74%
$18.34 BILLION*
2.34B
13%
12.97B
72%
$18.01 BILLION*
*Does not include 5 percent of total industry revenue for machines owned
and operated by locations.
Editor's Note: Revenue totals for individual groups were rounded off, therefore
the sums will not completely reflect the totals.
and lower operating costs, installing
more diverse payment options and
launching micro markets.
VendingMarketWatch.com
June 2013
A challenge that affected many
vendors in 2012 was healthy vending requirements in schools as well