Blog Archives
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Technology For The Future, Today
By Alfonso Flores - Thursday March 7, 2013As day-to-day living becomes more and more technologically sound, businesses all around the world are racing to keep up with the demands of the consumer. More and more people want a product that dazzles them, something they’ve never seen before, something that they could only have dreamt about. Those dreams may be closer to a reality than we thought. Qualcomm unveiled a technologically advanced coffee service concept at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The concept featured an ordinary coffee maker made extraordinary with Qualcomm’s Atheros 4100 chip, making it a digital machine accessible wirelessly via a tablet or mobile device that can deliver personalized coffee drinks. Qualcomm featured two parts. The first used... -
Water Bottle Refilling Stations Present Strong Water Service Opportunity
By Emily Refermat - Thursday February 28, 2013
A recent article about water bottle filling stations really struck me as an opportunity. It appeared on Mississauga.com about how the Herb Campbell Public School in Caledon, Ontario, Canada, has gone green and added attachments to their water fountains that allow refilling of an average-sized water bottle from a soda fountain type mechanism, as well as allowing users to get a drink as they would from a typical water fountain. The school added the water bottle refilling stations as part of its commitment to sustainability, and the fountain includes a digital counter of how many 20-ounce plastic water bottles are kept from landfills by students using the refilling station. At the time the article was written, that number was 1,600... -
Convenience Stores Do Better At Competing For Afternoon Snacks
By Paul Schlossberg - Monday February 25, 2013
Are your sales and traffic increasing? I read recently that visits to convenience stores increased by 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 versus 2011. This was reported on CSPnet.com from data tracked by The NPD Group . A number of factors impacted the favorable trend including lower gas prices. According to CSPnet.com, “The afternoon daypart, between 2:00 and 6:00 p.m., continues to be the most popular daypart, with slightly more than 35 percent of c-store shoppers visiting then, a 1.7 percentage point growth over same quarter year ago.” Increased c-store sales mean trouble for vending If c-stores are increasing traffic, where is that growth coming from? In our channel, it is critical that we win beverage and snack... -
Bullying at work
By Emily Refermat - Thursday February 21, 2013
In a recent addition of The Family Business Advisor , an online newsletter from The Family Business Consulting Group, Inc., an article appeared about bullying in the workplace. At first I was surprised, I mean sure, bullies in the playground or on the walk home, I've heard of, but not bullying at the place of employment. Also, our industry is full of family owned and operated businesses - surely they would be bully free. Then I read further and the author notes how Henry Ford publically chastised his only child Edsel in front of company employees, even when Edsel was president of Ford. Edsel died at 49. The infamous case of Edsel and his father certainly isn't conclusive, but it did make me wonder. Family in the workplace can be a... -
Impact Of 'Teleworking' On Vending And Micro Market Sales
By Allen Weintraub - Thursday February 14, 2013
Vending sale declines can be linked to structural changes in the work place. For example, more white collar employers allow their employees to work from home one or two days each week, a practice called "telecommuting" or "teleworking." In fact, the Federal Government has taken the lead in encouraging this trend. Congress passed and the President signed the “Telework Enhancement Act of 2010” which aims to expand the practice. (See, the Guide to Telework in the Federal Government, April, 2011) . Some experts estimate that 50 million people, 40 percent of the work force, can and will take advantage of teleworking to “improve the quality of their work-life.” Telework means smaller locations What does this mean for... -
Vending Industry Punished For Offering Convenience
- Thursday February 7, 2013I've been learning a lot about vending the last few weeks. As a relative rookie to the industry it has occurred to me that, if anything rings true, it’s that vending gets a bad rap. I know what you’re thinking, captain obvious right? But really, what is the deal with everyone saying vending machines are unhealthy? Admittedly, there are healthier options than some of the products in vending machines, but the vending industry is making strides to offer health-friendly options since all the hoopla began. Low-sodium, low calorie options have become a staple in many machines and micro markets, and as healthier snack options become available, the industry will adapt and adopt them as well. Furthermore, vending machines don’t... -
Why operators should use eNewsletters
By Emily Refermat - Thursday January 31, 2013In my business, I see the value of a good email newsletter. It's helpful, thought-provoking and drives the publication to the top of readers' minds. These are benefits vending, micro market and office coffee service operators can also gain by using targeted, topic specific eNewsletters to communicate with their customers. First, let’s start with helpful. How can an operation-to-location eNewsletter be helpful? First and fore-most an eNewsletter should announce new products and services as well as special deals. Most consumers belong to corporate social media sites or sign up for retail newsletters in order to be notified of sales or receive coupons. While you might not be giving away "vending bucks," announcing the new product... -
Why Traditional Snacks Still Drive Vending Sales
- Wednesday January 16, 2013
Operators are constantly getting requests for healthier products from locations. In 2012, VendingMarketWatch reported at least 15 cities that enacted some form of limitation on what snacks could be sold in vending machines, and that doesn't include the public schools restricting vending machine products and operating times, which reach into the hundreds. While I completely agree with those that say vending and micro market operators need to be proactive in addressing the health concerns of consumers, I also hear operators acknowledge that the sales aren't supporting the consumer requests for these items, at least in vending machines. Why aren't consumers buying the healthy items from machines in mass numbers? Well, aside from a... -
Time to reconsider tea
By Emily Refermat - Wednesday January 9, 2013
A recently published state of the U.S. Tea industry from the Tea Association of the U.S.A., Inc. reported not only how tea imports have increased in recent years, but how consumer demand is growing. According to Joseph Simrany, president of the Tea Association of the U.S.A., Inc., tea imports reached a record breaking 281 million pounds in 2011 with a dollar value for wholesale tea up 5 percent to $8.2 billion. The tea trend growing the most is ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages. "Within the tea industry there are segments that are faring better than others with RTD and Specialty Tea on top of the list," said Simrany in a prepared statement. Ready-to-drink trend continues The RTD segment has been growing in the last few years... -
Mondelez International Looks Back
By Emily Refermat - Thursday December 13, 2012
After making a monumental change, it's natural to look back in order to see how far ones come. Last week I got to do just that, as a guest of Mondelez International in New York City. Mondelez International, for those that don't know, is the snack food business split from well-known Kraft Foods. Pronounced " mohn-dah-LEEZ," it means delicious world. In fact, coming soon is a new video segment of VendingMarketWatch News with Paul Schindelar who explains not only how the name was derived but what the split means for the vending industry. Watch for a special invitation for the newscast in your mailbox. New York Mall Displays Nabisco History Back to New York…one of the subsidiaries of Mondelez International is Nabisco...
