caserri Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 I have noticed over the last few weeks when I go to service, all of my competitors are now selling at the following price points... 1.1 caps for $.50 All flat for $.75 2" caps for $1.00 I'm still selling at the usual... 1.1 caps for $.25 All flat & 2" caps for $.50 The only thing anyone offers for a quarter is candy. Should I consider these prices as I order new equipment or is it still too early?Smiley I cant wait for your input on this. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bravo Duck Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 Yes Steve, now is the time. Everybody understands that prices are going up because of fuel costs. But treat each location as an individual. Test run each location at higher prices and if NET revenue goes way down then jump back to the old pricing, but if net revenue stays the same or goes down only slightly then you're in good shape. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiley Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 On one hand You should start experimenting immediately. On the other hand it almost doesn't matter what the results of your tests are. You need to begin raising prices now and figuring out what is going to sell at higher prices. Let's take it in order of importance: 2 inch toys - I'm making the move to 75. Our customer is not ready for $1. As long as you put some effort in, you can make it work. You shouldn't be selling the medium priced 50 cent product for 75. You should be selling stuff like Nick Jr. and Family Guy Figurines for 75. Change whole stores at a time. Mixing 50 and 75 will hurt the 75 cent sales. Except in some places leave 1 50 cent machine to gid rid of older product, especially during your transition to 75. I cannot emphasize enough, when you come in with the new coin mech - Replace the product with something that you think appears to have a little more value. 1 inch toys - profit margins are still decent on most of these toys. focus on those locations where the 25 cent product is selling out. There are a few premium 1 inch products out there like zoomania. Flat - I see no reason to raise prices here. Product costs haven't gone up at all for me. Let's remember we are asking someone to have 3 quarters in their pocket or to make the effort to go get change. While i have seen plenty of my competitors going to 75 on the top and some at 50 on the bottom , i haven't seen any flat @ 75. Candy and gum - I can't speak for M+M's and the like but there is no reason to move off of a quarter. We don't want to affect unit sales. Better to keep the stuff fresh. I guess if you'v got a far away location where the stuff sells out, give it a shot. Obviously any new 2 " vender you buy should be 75. Doesn't mean that you've got to put it in the new store @ 75, but it will save you from buying an extra mech later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bravo Duck Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 Excellent post Smiley, Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antoniocinisi Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 I sell spiderman 1.1 tat for 50 cents on one of my racks,and they did ok. I used to sell the squishy eye S. Bob on the same machine but moved it elsewhere and in place I`m putting .50 S. bob water balls wrong place for a 1.00 mech. imo in some places the one dollar product will sell decently.I moved the mech from a 2k people town to a 30 k one where there are more likely to be more people willing to spend 4 quarters on a toy. smiley your posts are very detailed and precise as usual,would you agree on what I said above? imo 1.00 vends are possible,I am on a mission to find where! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiley Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 I don't want to come off as arrogant, but you did ask me my opinion so here goes. I've done a lot of testing and talked to people who have done a lot more testing than me. All other things being equal, you should be at 75 cents now. Maybe there are isolated circumstances where $1 will work, but I doubt there are many. You say you are getting good results with your SB Balls @$1, but I would be willing to bet I've can recommend many items that would generate higher gross sales at .75. You've also chosen a very moderately priced item to bump up to $1. Everyone is selling that item for .50. Is that the image you want? What if the store owner sees it for 50 in a competitors store? Obviously you are going to answer MARGIN AND PROFITS Smiley!!!!! But maybe not so much, anton. What if I can tell you there are items that cost 30% more but will double the sales. We can do the math together later, if you'd like. And if this is a commission location don't we want to make the store owner happy too? I don't know how many machines you have out there or how long you've been at this but you might be getting fooled by a very small sample size. One location for one month. You took what seemed to be a lot of money out of that SB machine for that month, but what you don't know is you might have collected double that if you had Nick Jr or Family Guy Figurines in there for .75. BTW, all this goes out the window if its a location where on a normal cycle you get sell-outs and there's no way to add more equipment or get there more often. Empty machines are ugly. Raise the prices there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpy Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 I wasn't go to reply to this but, Has anyone looked in thier crystal ball lately and predicted what was going to happen in he next year with costs. As fuel prices increase so will everything else eventully. Is it time to change your mechs to $.75 or a dollar. Do you really want to be asking this question again in another 6 months. Has your government commited to a dollar coin instead of the dollar bill? If they have then IMHO $1.00 is the way to go for the long term If not then everything smiley said about the amount of quarters is really valued. It is easier to get 1 coin then 3 or 4. I know that products that most sell for a quarer do sell for a dollar here in Canada, why! Simple it is one coin, won't even buy a cup of coffee anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antoniocinisi Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 smiley the spongebob water balls are at 50 cents its the spongebob keychain that I am selling for a dollar sorry for the confusion.. I agree with you that dollar locations will be few and far between,and it will be in those dollar locations that I will have the top premium toys,not cheap water balls. what I meant in my post is that the dollar item wasn`t doing well in that location so I switched it to a 50 cent item,the waterballs,and moved the dollar toy to a bigger town where it may do better. do you agree that a bigger town should do better with a pricier toy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiley Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 I wasn't go to reply to this but, Has anyone looked in thier crystal ball lately and predicted what was going to happen in he next year with costs. As fuel prices increase so will everything else eventully. Is it time to change your mechs to $.75 or a dollar. Do you really want to be asking this question again in another 6 months. Has your government commited to a dollar coin instead of the dollar bill? If they have then IMHO $1.00 is the way to go for the long term If not then everything smiley said about the amount of quarters is really valued. It is easier to get 1 coin then 3 or 4. I know that products that most sell for a quarer do sell for a dollar here in Canada, why! Simple it is one coin, won't even buy a cup of coffee anymore. The dollar coin will only flourish when they eliminate the dollar bill. There are no plans to do this. If they do our business will get a nice boost and you should buy $1 coin mechs. In the meantime, the move is to 75. 4 coins is too much to ask someone to have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiley Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 smiley the spongebob water balls are at 50 cents its the spongebob keychain that I am selling for a dollar sorry for the confusion.. I agree with you that dollar locations will be few and far between,and it will be in those dollar locations that I will have the top premium toys,not cheap water balls. what I meant in my post is that the dollar item wasn`t doing well in that location so I switched it to a 50 cent item,the waterballs,and moved the dollar toy to a bigger town where it may do better. do you agree that a bigger town should do better with a pricier toy? Without studying the numbers, my instincts tell me the higher priced stuff would do better in the wealthier neighborhoods and in locations that didn't have someone selling lower priced stuff near your machines. To keep things simple (and profitable ), I am working towards having all my 2 inch machines @ 75 except for a few 50's during the transition to help liquidate old inventory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Snacks Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 Good feedback Smiley. Here is my 2 cents. I have been transitioning to 50 cent vending for one inch toys for the last year with mixed results. In fact, I am still tweaking it as we speak. Certainly the product will matter and only “premium products need apply hereâ€. The other is the demographics of the area. I had success in “tourist trap†areas and “spoiled brat rich kid†areas with 50 cent vending. The lower income and working class areas have not been receptive to 50 cents vending and I have since gone back to a quarter there. Don’t confuse the newer developments of the so-called wealthy but in-debt-over-my-eyes neighborhoods with the older established wealthy neighborhoods with real established money and real wealth. IMO, the later is where the spoiled brats live AND their parents have lots of spare quarters. However, I believe there is still a place for some 25 cent vending! You just have to be creative and “brew†your own homemade mix of products that cost fewer than 5 or 6 cents. I will soon eliminate all of my slightly-above-average products because they are no longer worth selling for a quarter (due to the increased cost) and can not sell at 50 cents. So I will only have premium products and cheap junk products in the very near future in the commission locations. For the time being, I will still vend one inch toys for 25 cents in the charity locations. I am a bit paranoid about essentially doubling the price of a toy and raising a few eye brows at those locations – after all it is “just for charity†– yeah right, that’s what the locator told them! I only do 75 cents and a dollar with two inch vending, but my two inch product line and demographics are very limited. I started two inch vending a year ago and it has become a real hassle for me and I am cutting back on the number of heads on the rack to just one selection (maybe two in a real good spot). I just seem to have better luck (and revenue) with one inch toys. However, I do vend the NFL helmets and NFL superballs for a dollar in sport oriented places. The NFL mini cups also do well at 75 cents. I also vend some two inch (45/49mm) superballs for a dollar to the spoiled brats and tourists. That’s all I currently do in two inch and personally want nothing to do with 50 cent two inch vending based on the way the costs are going. I would start small and test before investing in a large number of new coin mechs since the upgrade cost can be significant for a large route. Now if you are buying some new equipment, then it may make sense to buy some of them with 50/75 cent mechs included. I am still testing and learning so this is a “work in progress†for me as well. Try to learn more about your neighborhoods. IMO, you need to match the proper demographics with the premium products to get the higher price – and that will take some time and testing. Jax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbo Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 The old question, volume vs profit margin. Its a fine line and needs to be tested in whatever market your in to determine what will produce more net. I think increasing heads to accomidate fast movers is fine, suppliers jack up the price on smoken products anyway, just make sure the item has some sutainability as to sales and re-supply. Too many times I get great sellers, blow em out and then cant get them again for a period of time. The fact is, with the high cost of fuel, the products we buy will be increasing, they already are, as with other businesses, we will have to pass those costs on, the key is to do it in a way that causes the least amount of problems, to me, that means changing out mechs slowly. I dont see it as an all or nothing thing, If you are running 1" heads on a rack, swap one or two out to .50 cents, that way you are not losing your existing price point but can now profit from running premium items at .50, same with 2" heads. On flat I am doing ok at .50 but we will see what the future holds for product costs. My feeling is things are gonna be changing for all businesses and we as operators, if we want to survive, will have to change as well. Jimbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antoniocinisi Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 smiley the spongebob water balls are at 50 cents its the spongebob keychain that I am selling for a dollar sorry for the confusion.. I agree with you that dollar locations will be few and far between,and it will be in those dollar locations that I will have the top premium toys,not cheap water balls. what I meant in my post is that the dollar item wasn`t doing well in that location so I switched it to a 50 cent item,the waterballs,and moved the dollar toy to a bigger town where it may do better. do you agree that a bigger town should do better with a pricier toy? Without studying the numbers, my instincts tell me the higher priced stuff would do better in the wealthier neighborhoods and in locations that didn't have someone selling lower priced stuff near your machines. To keep things simple (and profitable ), I am working towards having all my 2 inch machines @ 75 except for a few 50's during the transition to help liquidate old inventory. I only have 3 racks for now with 8 2 inch caps and 11 1 inch,of those 1 2 inch is 1.00,and 1 one inch is 50 cents. it is obvious that welthier nieghborhoods will do better with the 1$ mech! I am the only 2 inch machines in the location with the dollar mech,it is paired with 47mm regular bouncy balls at 50 that I want to get rid of.I noticed the only other local person that deals with racks around here is doing what you said and doing all 2 inch @ 75 cents and some 1 inch at 50 cents,and I am following suit. I already have the dollar mech and will need to find a place and a toy for it.I have a 75 cent mech in storage that will soon sell care bears outta the pizza shop .these are over 50$ for a bag! and A & A sugest it to be a 1.00 vend.since its a commission free location I am going for volume and will settle for 75. 50 cent coin mechs will be more and more a thing for 1 inch caps soon imo and not for 2 inch anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipside Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 havre a rather unique (at least,I think so) tht vends two inch capsules for a doller. I had it placed in a Puppy shop vending puppy toys, and it didn't do very well, making about $10 a month. This was retirment florida, with a lot of kids coming in, so i don't know what the problem was. Maybe the whole public just isn't ready fo $1 2 inch capsules yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiley Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 havre a rather unique (at least,I think so) tht vends two inch capsules for a doller. I had it placed in a Puppy shop vending puppy toys, and it didn't do very well, making about $10 a month. This was retirment florida, with a lot of kids coming in, so i don't know what the problem was. Maybe the whole public just isn't ready fo $1 2 inch capsules yet. Correct. Were you vending one A+A adopt -a-pup for $1. That is horrible value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipside Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Yes, only becuase I couldn't find another dog themed more vauble capsule item. Like I said, the machine was in a puppy store in the high end of town. Of course, doesn't matter now, cause they kicked me out after i spent $1000 on capsules :X lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antoniocinisi Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Yes, only becuase I couldn't find another dog themed more vauble capsule item. Like I said, the machine was in a puppy store in the high end of town. Of course, doesn't matter now, cause they kicked me out after i spent $1000 on capsules :X lol why did they kick you out?you have any of those caps for sale? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philo Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 I recently went into a Krogers with a foltz/sugarloaf set up. In addition to the higher priced caps and tats they were selling gumballs for 50 cents. Regards, Philo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipside Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 10 hours ago they would have been for sale, but I just found a new location for them, I'm setting the whole thing up again, and hoping foir more sucsess, the owner even says he''ll give change to anyone who asks. Does anyone have any suggestion on a way to add value to each capsule to justify the price? ( I can't get a different mech) Thanx! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiley Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 10 hours ago they would have been for sale, but I just found a new location for them, I'm setting the whole thing up again, and hoping foir more sucsess, the owner even says he''ll give change to anyone who asks. Does anyone have any suggestion on a way to add value to each capsule to justify the price? ( I can't get a different mech) Thanx! Recap them @ 2 for $1. they will never sell 1 for $1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipside Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 What do you guys think of a "get a winner capsule, get a free puppy" approach. I wouldn't have to put the winner capsule in there untill the puppy had bought itself. Of course, the two for one is also an option Any more suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipside Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Oh, let me be more clear, "get a winner capsule, get a free -real live puppy from the store-";) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candygirl Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Hi Smiley I think you're better off giving away a stuffed puppy. Giving a puppy away like a toy is not a good idea, IMO. Live puppies should go to responsible homes Anyone could vend that capsule. Animal shelters are full of pets that were discarded because they became too much "trouble". A toy is a better way to go. My two cents. Barb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipside Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 i agree that yther could be aproblem with unscrupulous owners, but i also feel like a toy is not nearly as enticing. I don't know what to do...:? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipside Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 Went with the toy about a month ago, borught in $30! Apparently most of it is from the store owners daughter...I'm not complaining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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