AngryChris Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I am going to be doing a research project for college regarding credit card readers on vending machines. If anyone has anything that they feel I should give extra attention to regarding this topic, please let me know. I think this is a very interesting topic for many, whether you use them or not... because we all want to make money and are looking for ways to earn more. If you think something should be addressed regarding the topic, post it and I will create a list of related things to add to my research. This not only helps me do my project, but it can help the entire vending community as I plan on submitting this paper to TVF for public use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shepherdsflock Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I'd like to know more about how the use of card readers impacts sales in white collar office and blue collar environments. I don't plan on doing much with airports, hotels, malls, etc., but I think there might be a place for this type of thing in the more traditional locations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VagabondVending Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Hey Chris, I would reach out to one of USA Technology's sales ppl for statistics. Tell them you're not interested in buying anything at the moment, but that you're interested in learning more about what locations, demographics, etc. are best for credit card readers. They have all of that data in PowerPoint presentations they share with prospective customers. I have a feeling it would that information would be a helpful resource if you don't already have access to that data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 Hey Chris, I would reach out to one of USA Technology's sales ppl for statistics. Tell them you're not interested in buying anything at the moment, but that you're interested in learning more about what locations, demographics, etc. are best for credit card readers. They have all of that data in PowerPoint presentations they share with prospective customers. I have a feeling it would that information would be a helpful resource if you don't already have access to that data. Great idea. I plan on calling several of these places and telling them it's for a college report. I will be a bit concerned with biased statistics though... but I will just have to do my own real research. I don't know if I will pull it off, but I plan on doing a bachelor's level report on this (this is for an associate's level class). I'd like to know more about how the use of card readers impacts sales in white collar office and blue collar environments. I don't plan on doing much with airports, hotels, malls, etc., but I think there might be a place for this type of thing in the more traditional locations. That's what I am talking about! I plan on running some analysis and comparison with various credit card reader technologies and see what the costs are. I am going to try to get the research on the different demographics regarding white-collar/blue-collar as well as students, customers at public locations, etc... This information is definitely useful to us vendors and I think I will put a major emphasis on the blue-collar/white-collar specifically because that seems to be the heart and soul of vending. For example, we might find out that blue-collar locations with low-wages rarely use cards at all whereas blue-collar locations with high-wages use their cards more than cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VagabondVending Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Yeah I would definitely expect some bias in their statistics, but I would expect they're location-related information to be relatively unbiased. For example they know the success rates at hotels, schools, colleges, military locations, etc. Those numbers probably wouldn't be increased too much becuase they're comparing locations in that example. If anything the information you get from them and any of their competitors will point you in the right direction if you do your own research. It may be a good place to start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snack dude Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 Yeah I would definitely expect some bias in their statistics, but I would expect they're location-related information to be relatively unbiased. For example they know the success rates at hotels, schools, colleges, military locations, etc. Those numbers probably wouldn't be increased too much becuase they're comparing locations in that example. If anything the information you get from them and any of their competitors will point you in the right direction if you do your own research. It may be a good place to start. I have several card readers on some glassfront machines in vending areas of multi floor office buildings and while there was a slight increase in overall sales ( and I mean slight, we are talking fractions of percentage points here) the trend we mostly saw was the gross was basically the same per week it was just split between cash and credit. So my unscientific opinion is, In an office enviroment people still spend the same amount of money it is just spent differently. We did not see those huge sales gains that the processors tell you your going to see. But that could just be my locations also? To take a page out of missions playbook we saw a bigger increase in sales when we equipped the machines to take 5 dollar bills and give dollar coin for change. Hope this has been helpful to you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted April 20, 2012 Author Share Posted April 20, 2012 I have several card readers on some glassfront machines in vending areas of multi floor office buildings and while there was a slight increase in overall sales ( and I mean slight, we are talking fractions of percentage points here) the trend we mostly saw was the gross was basically the same per week it was just split between cash and credit. So my unscientific opinion is, In an office enviroment people still spend the same amount of money it is just spent differently. We did not see those huge sales gains that the processors tell you your going to see. But that could just be my locations also? To take a page out of missions playbook we saw a bigger increase in sales when we equipped the machines to take 5 dollar bills and give dollar coin for change. Hope this has been helpful to you Excellent points. I think I will quote your post in this forum and give reference to the site. From what some people have told me so far, it almost seems like credit card readers can often be similar to food machines -- equipment to entice potential customers into signing contracts and not much more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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