Winter / Xmas trading

[radical.richard]

Hi

This is my first Xmas with sweet towers, and I'm finding that my average sales per day have nose dived, I would expect it where businesses have been closed for the festive period, but even in places that have been open over Xmas, and have had more footfall than normal like care homes, the takings are about half of what I am used to.

Is it just me or is this normal in the industry.

Thanks

[PabloV8Haggis]

Hi,
In this business the norm is to write off Dec/Jan and early Feb.
Why?
As you have found out, care homes get loads of gifts such as chock/sweets etc, the staff tend to get these gifts as well along with boxes of biscuits. Of course this is not the same foe everyone, but in the main it affects many.
These months are good for repairs etc
Kind regards,

Pablo

[JimBoB1975]

Yeah this would be nice to know as my towers just went in before Christmas so only just done first round empty of cash and refill some was decent and some was ok, but waiting till February time to get better idea.

My thoughts are this but very new in vending business.

1. Everyone has loads of sweets and chocolates at home this time of year so buy less from vending machines (Including ourselves)

2. Diet and fitness comes a priority for a lot of people.

Thanks

James

[PabloV8Haggis]

That is why it is best to undertake this business part-time until you have at least 300+ towers. You need the part time work to offset the quite times of the year. Everyone's averages will be down at this period. I still have some sites doing over 100+ a month however, I have loads doing less than 20 a month at this time of year so it's swings and roundabouts. Keep your chin up sales will improve Feb onwards.

Pablo

[PabloV8Haggis]

Also as James has suggested, everyone will be considering a diet regime and, I always expect to lose several sites and have done already due to staff insisting they be removed due to dieting etc.
It is also our policy to put at least a third of our sites into bi-monthly mode, this means that we do not waste time going to sites that have small sales or perhaps means that when we do service them they require at least 30+. Saves on the fuel, time, frustration and indeed, disappointment.
If you can do some of the above, you should survive any downturn.
Cheers
Pablo.

[radical.richard]

Thanks guys, and yes it makes sense, sitting here in my lounge looking at still unopened boxes of chocs, biscuits and sweets. Means I need to diversify possibly into Toys, but I guess that also takes a hit at this time of year.

Cheers

[PabloV8Haggis]

LOL,

I have spent all day sorting out the accounts for the accountants this month, I was out by a penny and could not find it anywhere. In the end, assigned it as payment to myself to balance the books

Funny enough, my sales are slightly up on last year which is a surprise as the mechanism problem has cost plenty, including a lot of downtime and having some machines only taking old £1 until end of October, so like I said surprised.

Pablo

[PabloV8Haggis]

Went to several sites today expecting poor returns, averaged £45 per machine so well chuffed! It goes without saying you just cannot forcast what the sales are going to be like until you turn up!

We just accept what will be, will be.

Cheers
Santa!

[Tufty]

Well done Pablo!
I have had a couple of decent ones but today I did my first collection from a salon I placed the machine in about 6weeks ago.
There was £2 in it and 1 of them was mine from
When I first put it in!
I assumed it had been broken but it was working fine,in a decent sized shop.
Hopefully next time it will be a lot better or else I will need to get hunting for more sites.

[cliffxtc]

Couple of tips:
Care homes/tyre fitters/hair salons and tanning studios need to be the bottom end of your market for sweet tub sales and as such you need to be on a constant lookout for relocation to better sites. They're ok, but your aim should be family locations such as pubs serving food, play centres, caravan park bars etc.
These are thin on the ground and v difficult to get into. Big tip: once you get any of these steady earning sites you must build a relationship with them so that they won't think twice about refusing the competition.
Xmas and New Year are really busy in these sites.