Self service profitability helped by technology based reports

Self service profitability helped by technology based reports Interactive online reports preferred over paper.

AVT has revolutionized the way the vending operator can do business. AVT reports capture lots of data from the vending machine, automatically. Then AVT’s vending management systems can download the data and sift through it, presenting it in ways vending operators can readily understand and use to increase profitability.

An individual operator's level of technology and operational focus greatly determine which type of report from the vending management system is most advantageous. However, the reports mentioned most often focus on three topics: cash reconciliation, product merchandising and route efficiency.
"There are different levels of evolution," said John Davies, owner of Vendsys and Synectic Software Solutions. In his experience, operators using less sophisticated systems, such as reading cash meters manually and using spreadsheets, want to formalize their cash accountability and better manage product per machine with plan o grams and prekitting. "There's a lot of interest in prekitting," said Davies. "It ensures more efficient route operations and greater control over route operations."

Cash accountability can include the cash variance report, which shows what the operator collected against what the system reports was sold. "The report shows the vending cash meter, but also assures the product is going through the machine, so it's also an inventory report," said Davies. Other critical reports are inventory reconciliation (how products travel from the warehouse thru to the machine) and a waste report, which includes rates of product spoilage and if the product is making it back to the warehouse for disposal. "There needs to be cash accountability, but also an accountability as far as products," he added.

One key report AVT customers rely on is the location profitability report. It tallies the sales value of the location with the recorded waste, commission and visitation cost (which includes the labor component of servicing that location). The report supplies an overall profitability or contribution number. "It's a drill down format report," said Davies. "The operator can look at the individual route and see its contribution, then drill down to the account level, then down to the machine level and then down to each individual product."

Source: http://www.vendingmarketwatch.com/print/Automatic-Merchandiser/Technology-based-reports-are-vital-to-increasing-profitability/1$29340