RikaKazak Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 So I got a two headed machine for free, and 1 side is made for candy, other for 1" gumballs (or jawbreakers or whatever). I was thinking about doing 1" nerd gum. Personally I LOVE IT (probably eaten at least 50 in my life) but I was curious if there were any pitfalls I wasn't thinking of. Found them on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Nerds-Candy-Center-Gumballs-850/dp/B000QV2H0E/ref=pd_sim_gro_1 Looks like they're going to be about 7.5 cents per gumball after adding in shipping. Do these guys go bad quickly? I heard gum lasts a long time, but never vended it myself. Any pitfalls I might not be thinking of? Good or bad idea? Suggestions? Comments? Any input is great appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 gum doesnt "go bad" per se, but it will get stale and be very very hard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 also the mfg, oak leaf, probably has better prices http://sweetworks.net/gumballs-filled-with-real-nerds-700-ct/ the top is the bigger 700 ct (1.1 in) http://sweetworks.net/gumballs-filled-with-real-nerds/ this is the standard 850 ct 1 in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 ps for smaller orders search for a local distributor on oak leaf's website. http://sweetworks.net/find-a-distributor/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VendingExperts Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 I've never had it myself to know how it is, but comparatively speaking its too expensive. I'd stick with Double Bubble or Bubble King! You make about an extra $40 per box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 what are you basing the too expensive comment on? i know that the amazon price is very high, but does anyone here buy there bulk stuff from amazon i heard that nerds is only a penny or two more expensive per gumball than the dubble bubble if you get it from the right places however, nerds has a uniqueness factor, which may increase impulse sales. whether the extra impulse sales are worth the extra cogs, thats up to individual operators to decide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VendingExperts Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 You have a point with it having a uniqueness factor. Like I said, I've never had it myself to know how unique it really is. Maybe I should have used the word "more" instead of "too". I have tested filled gumballs before and didn't see any difference in sales. Personally I thought they were better and expected to see a jump in sales. Therefore I didn't see a justification in the extra cost. Whether it was .01 or .03 extra it all adds up. Different people have different experiences and opinions. By all means test it for yourself. But if sales really don't spike one way or the other, personally I wouldn't spend the extra on Nerds when DB or BK does just as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 i heard that nerds is only a penny or two more expensive per gumball than the dubble bubble if you get it from the right places You don't happen to know any of those "right places" do you? It is hard to believe wholesale suppliers can't beat an Amazon price. Yet, that price on Amazon is not all that much higher than what A&A was selling the Nerds GB for a while back. A&A listed the 850ct at $43 last year....I can't imagine prices have come down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VendingExperts Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Last I checked at A&A Nerds gum was on the higher end of $40's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Ok I stand corrected Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RikaKazak Posted August 31, 2013 Author Share Posted August 31, 2013 Thanks for the input guys, this sort of discussion is exactly what I was hoping to generate Anyone else please feel free to chime in Anyone ever test nerd gum vs. DB and see how much more it sold? (if it even sold more) (100% of my idea for using the nerd gum is just because I LOVE IT! personally, but of course, that doesn't make it a good business decision ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VendingExperts Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Thanks for the input guys, this sort of discussion is exactly what I was hoping to generate Anyone else please feel free to chime in Anyone ever test nerd gum vs. DB and see how much more it sold? (if it even sold more) (100% of my idea for using the nerd gum is just because I LOVE IT! personally, but of course, that doesn't make it a good business decision ) Personally what I feel is most important in selecting which gum to use is what is the softness and cost.When someone sees a gumball machine they say ooh I want a gumball, not what kind of gumballs are those. I wouldn't use the cheapest possible gum because many times it is hard. No one likes hard gumballs. Most of your customers will be one time customers. The fastest way to ensure that you don't get repeat customers is selling hard gum. Many times they will not buy next time and even sometimes the attendant will even stop a customer from buying and say "oh don't buy that, they are hard and stale!" On the other hand if you sell a fresh, soft gumball not only will you have one time customers you will even get repeat customers or people who work where your machine is placed will frequent your machine. That being said, Nerds potentially could do well for you IF you have repeat customers, because that's when what you are selling makes the most impact. But to test and find out how well the gum does in your machine in your location is to buy 1 box of XYZ brand and track your collections and see how long it takes you to go through 1 box. Then buy 1 box of Nerds and simply change the product card and again see how long it takes you to sell out. Stick with whichever one works best. I truly feel it is personal preference and different locations may see different results. Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orsd Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 If you want the uniqueness based impulse sales, I'm thinking that special flavors like root beer float from dubble bubble might also work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VendingExperts Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 If you want the uniqueness based impulse sales, I'm thinking that special flavors like root beer float from dubble bubble might also workAgreed to bad there is not A&W Branded GB's These are current prices excluding shipping since that is an unknown variable. Many people will warn against buying GB's at Sam's due to freshness, but here is an apple to apple or GB to GB comparison. With a few machines the difference isn't much to worry about, although every bit counts. However, with a route of 100+ machines would really impact the bottom lines! 850 ct @ .25 $212.50gross . Cost / Unit / Profit A&A Global BK $28.59 .034 $183.91 DB $28.88 .034 $183.62 ND $43.00 .05 $169.50 SAMs DB $20.16 .024 $192.34 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lake Cities Vending Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Has anybody bought from Sweet Works? How is their pricing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treadmill Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 If your selling hard gumballs then you are not checking the quality of the gumball at every location on every service cycle. Never should you have hard gumballs. It also pays to keep an eye on the expiration date, even though that doesn't make a bit of difference sometimes. I've used nerds in the past and have worked out well for me. Since then I changed to DB and found no difference in sales. Last I pd for nerds from AA was I think $43 per case and I picked them up in MD saving me some money on shipping costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Relentless Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 I bought a route that the previous owner stocked all machines with Nerds gumballs. I have some places that do extremely well and they tell me specifically that they love the Nerds gumballs. If I changed to another type of gumball at these locations my sales would probably drop by at least 50% and I would have unhappy customers. Keep in mind that the majority of sales I make, and I am sure this is true for others, are from the workers who are there everyday and put a dollar or two in the machine at a time. I usually keep Nerds in a machine if there are other machines in that same location that stock Dubble Bubble or another type of gum. If I have a location that does average I usually change out the Nerds to a cheaper type of gum. In these cases I have not noticed a decrease in sales. Some people just want a gumball and some people want a specific type. The only way to really find out what is best for individual locations is by trial and error. To put this amount of effort to determine the best product can mean the difference between a mediocre route and a great route. It is also the difference between a person who just wants to sit around and collect some money every once in awhile and a person who wants to maximize their profit. I have purchased them from Amazon before and they came out to about 7.1 cents each. The other place I have purchased them from is abcvendingproducts.com and they came out to about 6.6 cents each. I have ordered a few things from ABC and could go either way with them. They messed up my last order but we came to a resolution that was satisfactory. I am sure there is a cheaper place to buy them but I have not found it yet. My routes are no where near the size where it would be cost effective to buy a pallet of them. At 6.6 cents per gumball you would have to sell almost three times as many Nerds gumballs to make up for the price difference between the Dubble Bubble gumballs at 2.6 cents. I have some of these locations that make is worthwhile for me to continue stocking Nerds gumballs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 I have purchased them from Amazon before and they came out to about 7.1 cents each. The other place I have purchased them from is abcvendingproducts.com and they came out to about 6.6 cents each. I have ordered a few things from ABC and could go either way with them. They messed up my last order but we came to a resolution that was satisfactory. I am sure there is a cheaper place to buy them but I have not found it yet. My routes are no where near the size where it would be cost effective to buy a pallet of them. At 6.6 cents per gumball you would have to sell almost three times as many Nerds gumballs to make up for the price difference between the Dubble Bubble gumballs at 2.6 cents. I have some of these locations that make is worthwhile for me to continue stocking Nerds gumballs. At that COG it makes it hard to sell at .25 if you are just testing the market. Not knocking you Relentless because I understand you have a sure-fire location where those nerds sell very well. Pleasing the customer is what you are doing and that's smart since they continue to buy. But, for someone like me, I don't think I would test the market for Nerds at that cost. I don't know that Nerds would be worth the gamble at double the expense over DB. Too many vendors around here have seen minimal sales impact when comparing gourmet GB with standard gumballs. Heck, a lot of vendors think an .07 cog on TOYS should be a .50 item...that's an even stronger argument for something with as short a shelf-life as GB have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havending Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 At that COG it makes it hard to sell at .25 if you are just testing the market. Not knocking you Relentless because I understand you have a sure-fire location where those nerds sell very well. Pleasing the customer is what you are doing and that's smart since they continue to buy. But, for someone like me, I don't think I would test the market for Nerds at that cost. I don't know that Nerds would be worth the gamble at double the expense over DB. Too many vendors around here have seen minimal sales impact when comparing gourmet GB with standard gumballs. Heck, a lot of vendors think an .07 cog on TOYS should be a .50 item...that's an even stronger argument for something with as short a shelf-life as GB have. 28% before freight on gum yikes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaTurtle Vending Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 This is my wheelhouse. It is what I do. I have over 200 heads out with Nerds gum in them. There are only a handful of locations where I have assorted gum still. Side by side, nerds gum outsells assorted 3 - 1 easily. Locations where I am the only show in town that have been switched to nerds gum have shown minimum 20% growth. It is usually higher. When I get a minute, I will see what I can get the gum to you for. I am positive I could beat their prices. I get nerds for almost the same price as dubble bubble. If you want to get it yourself, try getting together with some vendors in your area and get a pallet order together. This is how you bring the price down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havending Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 This is my wheelhouse. It is what I do. I have over 200 heads out with Nerds gum in them. There are only a handful of locations where I have assorted gum still. Side by side, nerds gum outsells assorted 3 - 1 easily. Locations where I am the only show in town that have been switched to nerds gum have shown minimum 20% growth. It is usually higher. When I get a minute, I will see what I can get the gum to you for. I am positive I could beat their prices. I get nerds for almost the same price as dubble bubble. If you want to get it yourself, try getting together with some vendors in your area and get a pallet order together. This is how you bring the price down. If your getting nerds for around 20 a case you need to post the source. I have never seen them that cheap ever. We have done nerds but did them at .50 and they did fine. You should try some at .50. May slow sales by 25% but you double the margin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makes Cents Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 If your getting nerds for around 20 a case you need to post the source. I have never seen them that cheap ever. We have done nerds but did them at .50 and they did fine. You should try some at .50. May slow sales by 25% but you double the margin Oakleaf price list have 850ct nerd gb at $30 per case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaTurtle Vending Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 And that is the price. As I said, order by the pallet from Oakleaf and you are near the same price as double bubble. I believe that goes for about $21-$22. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havending Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 And that is the price. As I said, order by the pallet from Oakleaf and you are near the same price as double bubble. I believe that goes for about $21-$22. Basic gum is 19 and change that make nerds 30% more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lake Cities Vending Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 Do you have the website for oakleaf? When I do a search all I get is gumball.com and candy direct and places like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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