FLASHBACK!  A post on the AutoCareForum some time ago concerning adding vending to a comparatively new wash showed  that the “old business model” thinking of “a conventional, drop shelf grouping, low technology, “dependent on a bill changer” is still very strong among car wash operators on the “Forum” !!   Let ‘s face the facts—the conventional drop shelf vending at car washes has not contributed a high percentage of a car wash’s gross income or been a high priority investment for operators.  A key sales tool in vending is the displaying of the product so the customer can see what they are buying.   Drop shelf vendors do not do this and they rely on the bill changer for coins to operate.   Changers are usually located in the front of the wash and drop shelf vendors can be anywhere on the wash site.  Customers will not walk very far to get change or buy a vending product.   New security designs, video cameras, and the technology now available have superseded this “old business model” vending station.

TIME!  Customers are always in a hurry to do something or go somewhere.  The operator will profit if the vending station is designed to save the customer time and effort.

LOCATION!   This is a time honored principle for carwash site success, but many years of personal experience using, designing, and selling computer-controlled vending machines (formerly described as electronic or glass-front) indicates that the vending station at your wash should be located in the vacuum island area of your wash.  This is the only place on your site that your customer can spend “un-metered time” (usually much longer than the time spent washing) to really look at their vehicle to see what needs to be cleaned more thoroughly.

CONVENIENCE!    The customer can be stimulated by the visual sight of the vending station to buy products to clean the troubled areas of the vehicle.  

The new vending model addresses the “TIME, LOCATION, AND CONVENIENCE” (T L C) requirements with a “user friendly, stand alone, computer-controlled,  vacuum island located, vending station that accepts bills, coins, tokens, credit cards, smart keys/cards, or RF devices,”  so that vending can be highly profitable to the car wash operator.  This vending station can be designed to integrate a video camera system and a strong, aesthetically clean, reliable security package for the machine/ money-handling into one installation that can survive in the car wash environment.
 
Operators now have the choice of investing in stand alone vending stations that provide from 18-51 car wash selections or the option of refrigerated vendors for sodas, water, and car wash products.  The number of items that can be vended in a computer-controlled vendor is almost limitless with operators having the opportunity to sell token packs, IBA token note packs, sodas, candy, cookies, chips, water, Gatorade, plus operator-packaged  combinations of pumps and towels, microfiber or terry cloth towels.  Operators can sell what ever will fit into the vendor.  The trend toward a cashless sales system (credit card or RF) for the vending station is coming very fast so the reasons for vandalism or theft should be diminished even more.

There are in-the-wall vendor installations offered that are usually rear loaded from the equipment room for cold weather, security and servicing reasons. The “new vending model” would dictate that these installations should be facing the vacuum island area of the wash so customers would be able to see the vending station and quickly purchase vending items.  It may not be the optimum location, but security and weather concerns do dictate some decisions.

While reading the recently published results of a 2007 Self Serve Survey in one of the industry magazines, some numbers jumped out which seem to provide proof that a properly located vending station can produce significant sales volume.  The first was that the average monthly vending income per site was $388 which indicates old model results. Since we have posted vending sales numbers that customers have shared with us, it became apparent that our customers who use the new model with computer-controlled vending located in the vacuum island area can do over 3 times the sales volume per month ($1187) that was reported in this survey.     

The second number was the average monthly bay gross income being $1279.  What it all computes to is a properly located, secured, and serviced (T L C) vending station can be almost equivalent to the average monthly sales volume of a wash bay!!  If you look at the investment in property, building, and equipment needed for a wand bay to achieve the average sales volume in the survey, then the investment necessary in a well designed vending station installation to achieve approximately the same sales volume looks like a real bargain! Think about what can be achieved if you throw out the old “conventional model” and use the new model as a way of increasing the wash’s gross sales by adding a “virtual” bay with a smaller investment and achieving vending sales success at the same time.

The same 2007 Survey reported a monthly gross income for a vacuum of $269.  So vending income is almost equivalent to 1.5 vacuum installations.  If one looks at the investment in these new vacuums that are now used in the industry, the investment in a vending station that is equivalent to 1.5 vacuums looks very reasonable. 

There are two car wash business formats that are successful in producing high vending sales volume; wand self serve and Express conveyor.     The most successful is the wand self serve wash with a large, spacious, covered vacuum island area that is close to the wash bays.  As stated above the customer usually spends more “un-metered time” at the vacuum islands “detailing” the car than in washing the car.  This time provides the operator with an opportunity for merchandising and marketing of vending products to solve customer’s wants or wishes on the spot.  (T L C)  The customer’s impulse to do something to clean or detail his car is satisfied if the vending product is nearby and easy to purchase.    Now you have a winning combination for vending sales volume that produces big profits. The next best format is the new Express conveyor wash with free vacuums as part of their attraction.  Again you get the customer spending “un-metered time” time in the vacuum area where the opportunity for customer impulse purchasing pushes vending sales volume.

A successful high volume computer-controlled vending station has not been achieved in full serve conveyors (usually because they have attended lobbies for their vending sales) and in IBAs where customers are in a hurry to wash the car and then drive off.  When the IBA is part of a self serve wand wash site, unless the IBA users stop to vacuum or detail their cars in the vacuum island area of the wash, there is little opportunity for impulse vending sales. 

The new “T L C” vending concept and model will give operators and investors some new ideas to study and think about when planning to build new or the time for rehabbing an old wash becomes necessary.  Integrating the new model for vending into the overall wash operation will increase the gross dollar volume of the site and enhance the profit margins to make the wash successful.