A mainstay of shops and businesses where kids gather in droves, toy vending machines have traditionally been used to sell small, encapsulated toys at inexpensive prices. However, improvements in the lightweight alloys and plastics used to manufacture vending machines, as well as advancements in the technology that powers vending machine payment systems, have allowed both manufacturers and vendors to get more creative. Today, toy vending machines are more versatile, with the ability to offer branded toys, must-have action figures, plush stuffed animals and much more.

Traditional toy vending machines are coin-operated, but nowadays they can also be configured to accept bills of varying denominations and, in cases where the machine’s application makes it feasible, credit or debit cards. While card payments are usually reserved for toy vending machines selling more expensive items, units with bill verification sensors that make change for customers have become the industry standard. Though the old-school machines which require exact change and vend out of a single coin-activated chamber are still around, they’re rapidly being replaced by newer models driven by more advanced technology.

How to Profit from Toy Vending Machines

The first, most basic and most important principle in choosing a location for your toy vending machine is to put it in a location where large numbers of children converge. Recreation centers, game parlors, bowling alleys, malls and child-themed eateries (like Chuck E. Cheese, for example) are all tried-and-true venues. However, creative thinking can also lead to untapped markets. Lobbies of popular family restaurants, where customers face wait times for tables during peak hours, can be a good spot to locate simpler toy vending machines. Anywhere parents might be stuck waiting with impatient children is a good place to consider; parents who want to keep their kids entertained, quiet and happy are more than willing to buy toys from vending machines to do it.

Another method vendors use to increase revenues at toy vending machines is to install token-operated models. Toy vending machine tokens can be purchased from machine manufacturers, and sold at a rate that adds up to be higher than a coin-operated vending machine would charge for the same toy. For example, a toy that would cost a quarter in a traditional vending machine could be sold for a token in a token-operated model, significantly increasing revenues if tokens are sold for, say, two for a dollar.

What to Sell in Toy Vending Machines

Generic toys specifically manufactured for sale in vending machines are readily available, and they are usually very inexpensive when purchased in bulk quantities. Costs per unit for capsule vending machine toys are normally only a few cents, and can sell for anywhere from a quarter to a dollar. However, the future of the toy vending machine industry lies in selling brand-name, popular toys through high-tech machines.

Children want items on impulse, and parents indulge them; to serve the changing needs of toy vending machine operators better, manufacturers have developed models that dispense packaged toys. Now, items that were once only available in toy departments can be sold virtually anywhere kids go, in vending machines that accept bills of varying denominations as well as electronic payments. The bottom line for vending machine operators is opportunity: with creative thinking and wise machine placement, excellent profits can be achieved and sustained.

Especially popular in offices and on college campuses, coffee vending machines now offer more than just coffee. Improvements in technology have promoted a rise in the sale of specialty caffeinated (and decaf) beverages from coffee vending machines, including fresh-brewed cappuccinos, espressos and even iced drinks and teas.

Features of a Typical Coffee Vending Machine

Expect to find a variety of shapes and sizes of coffee vending machines, but shop with a compact design in mind. At the large end of commercial coffee vending machine sizes are models that measure as high as 6 feet, with a unit weight of at least a couple of hundred pounds. Larger units require more electricity to operate, so expect to see power costs increase proportionally with the size of your coffee vending machine.

Beyond the variation in size and weight specifications, coffee vending machines are also equipped to offer a variety of products and features designed to enhance convenience and ease of use. One example of an ingenious touch featured on modern coffee vending machines that drums up additional business is the ability to allow customers to fill their own coffee mugs. These machines are ideal for school or work environments, where much of the traffic around the vending machine is there on a daily basis. Many machines also come with a complimentary service option, allowing for versatile use on special occasions when coffee is offered free of charge.

Where Should You Locate a Coffee Vending Machine?

With more than 100,000,000 coffee drinkers in the United States alone, locating a coffee vending machine near people who enjoy a cup of joe isn’t the challenge–it’s choosing a location where large numbers of people in need of a pick-me-up converge. When you consider that the average coffee drinker enjoys an average of more than 3 cups per day, with 18 percent of those people purchasing specialty coffee beverages on a daily basis, it’s easy to see how a versatile coffee vending machine can become profitable very quickly.

Employers who want to generate a little extra revenue might consider adding a coffee vending machine to the company lunchroom and lounge or break areas. If you’re interested in becoming an independent operator of a coffee vending machine business, consider approaching established companies. Ask whether they’re open to an agreement that will allow you access to the company’s employees in exchange for a percentage of the machine’s intake. Well managed, such arrangements can become win-win situations for employers and entrepreneurs alike.

Where else do coffee drinkers mingle with tired, thirsty folks? Lecture halls and school dormitories, bus and train station waiting areas, airports, hotel lobbies and convention centers, exhibition grounds, entertainment venues…in short, just about anywhere you can think of. When considering a location, anticipate its need for a coffee vending machine by observing the flow of pedestrian traffic, areas where people gather or pass through and what’s available nearby in terms of caffeinated beverages. If you find the right place, earning a strong income can become a simple matter of stocking your machines and collecting your money.

In response to customer demand for vending machines that don’t require the hassle of exact change, manufacturers are focusing their development efforts on creating units that accept credit and debit card payments. More and more, vending machine owners are preferring to purchase models that allow for credit card use. Statistics show that the average amount of money a customer spends in a cash-only vending machine is $1.06. However, when credit cards are accepted, people spend an average of $1.87. That represents a 63 percent spike in sales. Studies also show that customers are much more likely to purchase multiple items from a vending machine that allows credit card payment.

Why? The simple answer is convenience. One of the factors that led to a decline in the vending machine industry was the inconvenience of requiring exact change. Fishing for exact change is cumbersome and annoying for customers who find they don’t have the correct amount on hand. The introduction of bank-note-reading technology improved matters, but still left customers with their hands full of change after making purchases with a larger-denomination notes (such as $10 and $20 bills). Most vending machines that offer to make change for customers provide just that–mounds of coins. While such machines can drum up additional sales in customers who purchase more items to reduce the number of coins they receive for change, equal numbers simply choose to buy nothing at all.

Credit Card Vending Machines Offer Maximum Purchasing Convenience

Market research indicates that customers actually prefer to make vending machine purchases with credit cards. People are approximately 45 percent more likely to make a vending machine purchase if the machine accepts plastic payments. These machines not only encourage spending (because the customer doesn’t have to part with actual cash), but vendors can also charge premium rates for goods when credit card sales are offered. For example, a soft drink that would normally retail for $1.25 in a cash-only vending machine can fetch as much as $2 from a credit card vending machine. The electronic technology that powers credit card vending machines allows operators to customize pricing, which is usually adjusted upwards to reflect the slightly increased costs associated with accepting payments. These additional costs, levied by the financial institutions that issue credit and debit cards, are more than recovered by the premiums vendors can place on the items they sell.

Credit card vending machines also permit owners to track sales information in ways that were not possible prior to the advent of electronic technology. Because sales are processed using a centralized data system such as a local area network (LAN), information such as sale dates, times, items purchased and total expenditure are recorded. Proprietors can then review this information to learn which items are hot sellers, what times of day yield the most sales and how much the average customer is spending. Credit card vending machines provide proprietors with advanced business management tools, allowing them to tweak their operations to maximize profit potential and focus their efforts on providing the items their customers purchase most often.