Automatic Merchandiser

OCT 2014

Automatic Merchandiser serves the business management, marketing, technology and product information needs of its readers including vending operators, coffee service operators, product brokers, and product and equipment distributors in print.

Issue link: http://automaticmerchandiser.epubxp.com/i/398491

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 7 of 51

CONSULTANT REPRESENTATIVE, ITSL MEDIA REPRESENTATIVE 1233 Janesville Ave., P.O. Box 803, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538-0803 BUSINESS STAFF PUBLISHER Monique Terrazas Telephone: (920) 568-8386 E-mail: Monique.Terrazas@ VendingMarketWatch.com INTEGRATED MEDIA Michelle Scherer Telephone: (920) 568-8314 E-mail: Michelle.Scherer@ VendingMarketWatch.com LIST RENTAL Elizabeth Jackson Account Executive Merit Direct LLC Telephone: (847) 492-1350, ext. 18 E-mail: ejackson@meritdirect.com EUROPEAN SALES Julian Maddocks-Born Sales Director julian@itsluk.com, +44 (0)1442 230033 Benedict Hume Sales Manager benedict@itsluk.com +44 (0)1442 288287 EDITORIAL STAFF EDITOR Emily Refermat Telephone: (920) 563-1615 E-mail: Emily.Refermat @VendingMarketWatch.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Adrienne Zimmer Telephone: (920) 563-1651 E-mail: Adriennne.Zimmer @VendingMarketWatch.com SUPPORT STAFF ART DIRECTOR Erin Brown PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Steve Swick PRODUCTION SERVICES Barb Evenson Telephone: (920) 563-1629 Fax: (920) 568-2392 E-mail: Barb.Evenson@cygnus.com AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Debbie Dumke PUBLISHED AND COPYRIGHTED 2014 BY CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER John French CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Paul Bonaiuto EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Gloria Cosby VICE PRESIDENT, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Julie Nachtigal VICE PRESIDENT, TECHNOLOGY Eric Kammerzelt VICE PRESIDENT PRODUCTION OPERATIONS Curt Pordes VICE PRESIDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES Ed Wood VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING Gerry Whitty DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Lester Craft All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Reprint Sales: For reprints and licensing please contact Nick Iademarco at Wright's Media 877-652-5295 ext. 102 or niademarco@ wrightsmedia.com. Subscription Policy: Individual subscriptions are available without charge in the U.S. to vending operators, coffee service operators, product brokers, and product and equipment distributors. Subscribe online at www.VendingMarketWatch.com. Publisher reserves the right to reject nonqualified subscribers. Individual subscriptions are available at the following rates: For one year, U.S. $35 ($70 for two-year subscription), Canada & Mexico $60 ($105 for two-year subscription); all other countries, payable in U.S. funds, drawn on U.S. Bank, $85 per year ($160 for two-year subscription). Single issues available (prepaid only) $10.00 each. Canadian GST# 842773848. For Change of Address or subscription information, click on subscribe at www.VendingMarketWatch.com, call toll-free 877-382-9187 or 847-559-7598 or email: circ. VendingMarketWatch@omeda.com AUTOMATIC MERCHANDISER (USPS 017-280) (ISSN 1061- 1797, print; ISSN 1948-5697, online) is published nine times per year: February, March, April, May, June, August, September, October and December by Cygnus Business Media. Periodicals postage paid at Fort Atkinson, WI and additional entry offices. POSTMASTER: Please send all change of address to AUTOMATIC MERCHANDISER, PO Box 3257, Northbrook, IL 60065-3257. Canada Post PM40612608. Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: Automatic Merchandiser, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Volume 56, Number 8 Printed in the U.S.A. Be a trend breaker Encourage cashless transactions, and make more money. CASH carries with it benefts and liabilities. Facebook/VendingMarket @VendingMagazine http://linkd.in/VendingMarketWatch hy are vending operators punishing consumers for using credit? They look at cashless and admit it's prev- alent among end users. They might even agree with the case studies that show adding cashless devices improves sales beyond what is cannibalized. These oper- ators might have added the equipment to some of their machines and increased the product prices to cover transaction fees or used the additional payment option as a way to eliminate commissions. Still others may have added cashless readers based on customer requests, but charge the consumer an extra 5 to 25 cents to use a credit or debit card over using cash at the point of sale, a practice called two- tier pricing. I was in a meet- ing discussing this very topic when one of the executives stopped, and asked why the operator was charging more to consumers that use a credit card, instead of less. Many of you know this person, Gloria Cosby, once the publisher of this magazine and as unforgettable as she is shrewd. And because it was Gloria, I stopped and listened. Blast from the past Gloria's thought was that in vending machines, all product prices need to be divisible by a nickel. However, credit card prices don't. So in a machine or micro market, if an operator is pricing products for good proft margins, the cost per trans- action, if less than a nickel, is forcing at least a 5 cent increase on any one product. If the consumer uses a credit card, the price could actually be less and the opera- tor simply charges the fee amount (which in our scenario is less than a nickel). Encouraging cashless has many benefts Locations with many credit card users would appreciate the price being lowered in their favor. It might encourage them to use your services instead of going to a place that either doesn't charge for credit at all (i.e. a convenience store). Also, encour- aging credit has been shown to increase the amount that is spent per transaction. That's more money in your pocket, because the consumer is still paying the transaction fee and also buying more. When you come right down to it, why are we encouraging the use of cash? Dol- lars aren't backed by gold or silver any- more. Cash doesn't carry transaction fees, but it is much easier for dishonorable people to steal, miscount or jam inside a bill validator. Cashless devices guarantee the operator's account is credited (no theft or counting) and can be set to notify the operator if there is an error at the physical device (which can sometimes be reset remotely). I'm not saying this will work in every situation, but I will say that it brings a dif- ferent perspective to the issue of pricing. So often we focus on encouraging cash, but what if encouraging credit would lead to more sales, higher revenues and less theft? It's worth considering. W 8 Automatic Merchandiser VendingMarketWatch.com October 2014 E D I T O R ' S N O T E B Y E M I L Y R E F E R M A T

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Automatic Merchandiser - OCT 2014