First service on my 9-way

[dperry]

Today I serviced my 9-way rack for the first time.  It's been 6 weeks (42 days) and the pull was $169.00.  Below is the list of products and the number of vends which illustrates their popularity.  I swapped out the 2" sticky mix for Air-Filled YoYo balls, and the Monkey'n Around for the Squishy Animal pencil toppers.  Interestingly enough, it looks like the Monkeys were the most popular items on the rack.  I don't really know how well each of the flat vends did since all the money ended up in the same coin box.  I wasn't able to make note of the levels of the flats to compare to this service, so I don't know which was the big winner and which was the big loser.

I calculate that it did $4.03 a day.  Before I put a rack in this location, I had a double in there with gumballs and 1" sticky mix.  That did $2.86 a day.  That equates to $1.43 a day per head.  By those figures, the 9-way should be doing $12.87 a day.  Obviously there is some law of diminishing returns when it comes to vending.  It's like there's only so many quarters to go around.

So since this is my first rack, I was wondering how mine compares with all yours.  Better or worse?

Product                    Vends

--------------------------------

Hound Dog 3 Stickers          24

Alchemy Gothic Fantasy Tattoo 24

ISticker Stickman stickers    24

Girls Lower Back Tattoo 3     24

Large Sticky Mix              62

Asst. Ford 1080c              90

Super Ball mix                91

Monkey'n Around figures       98

Acrylic Rings                 82

Here's a picture of the rack. It's in a Panderia.

[nam]

Congratulations on your first rack pull! I think it will only increase each month as more kids get used to it being there and using it. Next month you'll probably go over $200.

nam

[dperry]

Since it's on an 8 week cycle, I figure that if the amount per day stays the same, then it'll gross about $225. So that would be about $112.50 for the month. Do you really think it would top out at $200 a month? or $400 for the 2-month cycle?

[nam]

Darryl,

I've had some bakery accts. myself and they are ok but not great in my experience. They seem to have seasons where the stores get much busier but are not going to do as well as the grocery stores and restaurants. Of course I'm making general statements here and would vary from exact location to location. I found the Tiendas, even small ones do well and larger ones great if you can get in them. I didn't do nearly as well in the Carniceria's either. Can't explain it - just the way it was. Maybe the moms running in to get some bakery items or meat are less likely to take the kids in with them. When they do their major grocery shopping then they take the kids in with them more often and the same with restaurants.

nam

[nam]

Darryl,

I would make one suggestion on your sticker/tattoo machine. You have a unique location and market here and you could improve your sales by using special hispanic tattoos and stickers. You should try all black tattoos rather than colored with an hispanic flair. I'm sorry Darryl but I have never seen a gothic mexican? lol The only thing I would keep in that machine are the girls lower back tattoos. You may depending on the neighborhood in Houston have mexican gangs with might by some pretty wild tattoos but not gothic. If this is a nice store in a nice area I'd be more likely to go with family oriented things - maybe religious rings, necklaces and tattoos or mexican heritage tattoos. Brand has alot of things specifically for the mexican market. They have special rings, necklaces, tattoos, etc. and these would probably sell much better for you in this location and get your pull pumped up!

nam

[dperry]

Nam,

Thanks for the reply.  I will grap a better selection of flats for this location. 

While this is a panderia, it does other stuff besides bakery goods.  It actually has a full menu and tables for seating, so I think it is mis-named.  It is open til 11pm most nights, which is unlike most bakeries.

Also, when I was in there servicing, there was a little boy, about 6 who was feeding the machines after I had pulled all the money and before I had restocked all the goods.  So this is more of a family-oriented location that seems to cater to small children.  That's why I went with the flats that are centered around the younger crowd.  I figured that the b/w tats may have been too 'old' for the location.  But you are right.  The colored gothic tats at the very least will prolly have to go.  Maybe there is an older crowd in this location that would buy more if there was more for them to buy.

[lurtsman]

I like Nam's way of preparing for demographics. I use similar theories with choosing my merchandise.

Were superballs a 1 or 2 inch vend, and what was your price point?

[nam]

Darryl,

Yes, that doesn't sound like your basic Panderia at all. I didn't have any that had those hours or full menu restaurant. Most had tables and chairs but not full menu. Sounds like this could be a much better location than the normal panderia. I would still put in items especially for that location regardless of age. You can buy everything up to and including the tatts for that specific market and think it would up your sales.

nam

[nepavend]

Darryl,

You can gauge what the stickers are doing by checking their stock levels.  Stickers/tats are tough for me to gauge what to switch to also, there are probably other members who are more knowledgeable on that.

I have to ask why you would swap out your top selling item - Monkey Around? 

Also, did you consider a second variety of gumballs (Gum was your #3 seller and lowest COGS).

Asst. Ford 1080c              90

Super Ball mix                91

Monkey'n Around figures       98

Acrylic Rings                 82

These items all did more than 1.5 vends a day.  That is not terrible numbers.  I think you will pick up a little as you tweak products and the locations clientele gets accustomed to their choices.

I would hope that a rack like yours would get to the $250-300 range per cycle minimum but it would be Ok also if you had a little less but also less COGS.

I have about 10 rack locations overall, and this falls into the middle of my range right now.

[dperry]

I switched out Monkey'n Around because I didn't have more to put in. I had purchased a different product. Some squishy animal pencil toppers which I had heard were some awesome selling items.

As far as the gumballs go, I carry only one flavor and that's what I can get from Quill. If I were to start buying different gumball flavors, that would be yet another items that I would have to stock. Although with the price of gumballs at Quill being equal to what I can find at A&A so I may just do all my shopping at A&A.

This is what I'm talking about when I asked about how much variety do you need to keep on hand when doing racks. Since I have a 9-way, I need 4 different 1" products and 4 different flats. Right now I'm lucky if I can buy one or two bags of product per size per month. I'd like to vary the product in my rack each servicing so if I buy something new, I'm not going to have enough to buy replacement product for what I already have.

This last month I took in almost $600.  After commissions, and loan payments, and charity sticker payments, that leaves about $300 to play with. Now I have to use that money to buy product. I need to buy some 2" and some 1" and some gumballs and also some flats. That's going to pretty much wipe out my spending money. 

It used to be when I was doing gumballs only, when I had $300 left over from my service run, I'd buy 4 cases of gumballs and maybe 4 new vista 300's. I don't have that luxury anymore when trying to keep product in stock for my racks.  It's harder to get the capital to buy new equipment, especially rack components.