Good Sales Data Is Revolutionizing Our Industry

Vending operators are learning more about their businesses today than at any time in the industrys history. This has been made possible bymachine-level data.A revolution is under way, and the future is positive.The excitement taking place in the offices of todays revolutionaries is real.The DEX data that vending operators can access today from their machines allows them to know exactly what products are selling in their machines. Once this data is downloaded into their software, it allows them to evaluate their operations in new ways.One operator who has been using remote machine monitoring told me he has quadrupled the facings of some products in his snack machines. This is something he would never have dreamed of doing prior to having the DEX data. He is only one of many operators from coast to coast enamored with the benefits of line item sales data. The data is changing their operations in many ways.Besides meeting customer needs better, they are able to schedule machines for service more efficiently. Some have been able to take huge costs out of their warehouses.They are learning the needs of their customers on a location specific basis.They are finding they have more credibility with their customers when they show them these reports. They are finding they have a much better idea what to order from their suppliers. In some cases, they find themselves in stronger negotiating positions with suppliers. The revolutionaries are amazed to realize that for the first time ever, they have good data to work with.For decades, vending operators have used subpar data, not fully realizing that such data has compromised their efficiency and the quality of their customer service. In the past, vending operators relied on historic sales reports, be it their own reports or data provided by suppliers. They have sometimes used convenience store data, which they assumed was valid for the vending channel. Now progressive operators are finding that nothing compares to the real McCoy: machine-generated line item sales, now available, thanks to DEX.Access to good sales data is one of the most uplifting experiences for operators utilizing new technology.The industry is only beginning to discover the benefits of good data. A great future awaits us.