Anyone who has successfully engaged in the vending business for more than a few years fully understands that what we do is firmly rooted in impulse sales. The whole vending machine philosophy depends on taking advantage of a person's impulse to buy snacks. As a company involved in fitness vending, we are working with the same dynamic despite focusing on healthy alternatives to less healthy foods.
Unfortunately, there is a place in our business where fitness vending and impulse sales collide. The site of that collision can be rather messy if we do not take the steps necessary to prevent it. Rest assured we are taking those steps. We want Nutrivend and all our customers to realise maximum benefits from vending without leaving a mess behind.
Unhealthy vs Healthy Choices
So, what is this mess we are referring to? It is the conundrum we and our customers face in trying to encourage impulse sales. In the fitness setting, it would be very easy to sell sugary drinks and snacks to people who are just finishing their workouts and are craving a quick boost of energy. These kinds of snacks are also highly profitable. But selling things like chocolate bars and sugar-rich exercise drinks is to go against the whole idea behind fitness vending.
One of the core principles of what we do revolves around providing healthy snacks in the fitness environment. Can we still do that and take advantage of impulse sales? Yes, we can. But it requires that we diligently seek out the kinds of products vending customers want without exposing them to choices they really should be avoiding.
We have mentioned functional foods in a number of our previous blog posts. Functional foods have physical benefits that go beyond basic nutrition, and they are very popular among consumers right now. Focusing on these kinds of foods is one way to address the impulse question without violating the integrity of fitness vending. People want functional foods; they are looking to buy them wherever they can – including vending machines at their gyms and leisure centres.
Fitness and Vending Can Work Together
We hope that the main take-away from this blog post is an encouragement to our customers that fitness and vending are not juxtapositional. In other words, fitness and vending machines based on impulse sales can work well together. We have demonstrated as such here at Nutrivend.
That place where fitness vending and impulse sales collide can be messy if we let it be. But we are not content to do that. We believe there are a lot of great products out there that we can offer in our vending machines, products that meet customer needs and maximise impulse sales. If we didn't believe it, we would not be in the fitness vending business.
Do you own a local gym or leisure centre? Would you like to know more about fitness vending on your premises? If so, feel free to reach out to us any time.
