WO2001075699A2

WO2001075699A2 - A system and method for optimising stock in a vending machine

Info

Publication number: WO2001075699A2
Application number: PCT/GB2001/001378
Authority: WO
Inventors: Frank Edward Mars
Original assignee: Mars U.K. Limited
Priority date: 2000-03-30
Filing date: 2001-03-28
Publication date: 2001-10-11
Also published as: GB2360766A; WO2001075699A3; GB0007798D0; AU2001242613A1

Abstract

A vending machine (1) comprising a plurality of stock locations (5) and means (11) for timing sales of the stock, wherein sales information is stored in the vending machine (1) to assist refilling of the machine (1). By optimising the stock in a vending machine (1) using date and time of sale information, it is possible to prioritise the stock within the machine, thereby maximising profitability of the machine (1).

Description

A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMISING STOCK IN A VENDING MACHINE

The present invention relates to vending machines, and in particular to a system and method for optimising the stock in a vending machine, thereby maximising sales.

Glass front vending machines are well known and are regularly placed in public places. These machines typically have five or six trays for receiving foodstuffs, such as salty snacks, crisps, confectionery or carton drinks. The products are dispensed by means of horizontal spirals which, when rotated, drive the products to the delivery port. Other means of moving the products are, of course, also used.

Such vending machines generate a good deal of business, particularly with respect to popular products which are the subject of impulse purchases.

In general, glass front vending machines are purchased by a vending machine operator who makes a living from selling products via these machines. In this respect, they are similar to a shop where a shopkeeper decides what to offer for sale. However, a shopkeeper typically is very knowledgeable about best sellers and product ranges, etc., whereas vending operators are very often not. Hence, in a glass front vending machine it is commonplace to find that the best selling product is sold out long before the machine is restocked. The present invention has been devised to overcome this problem, and to maximise the sales which can be made from a glass front vending machine or the like.

A glass front vending operator visits his machine as infrequently as possible. Hence, getting the balance right between too many visits and the machine not having any product is the key to efficient use of the machine. Indeed, at present it is typical for a vending operator to minimise the number of calls to the machine, thereby resulting in a large number of spirals being empty of product when a visit is finally made. This arrangement results in an inefficient use of the vending machine.

In view of the foregoing, the present invention has been devised to ensure that enough best selling products are used in a vending machine, and thereby to maximise the sales from the machine. More particularly, the invention aims to record details of which product sold out and how quickly from the last fill. This information will allow the machine to be optimised having regard to products to be re-filled at a particular site. Hence, in effect, a unique feature of the present invention is that the customers determine the range of products and the amount of each product to be placed in a vending machine at a particular site, thereby optimising profitability for the operator of the vending machine.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method of optimising stock in a vending machine, wherein time of sale information is utilised in prioritising stock levels.

By recording the date and time of each vend and processing stored information, a vending machine operator can determine which products to use when refilling the vending machine, thereby helping to achieve maximum sales from the machine in the future.

The time of sale information may include time of day information, as well as date information.

In a preferred embodiment, the information is stored according to stock location. This means that, when information is made available to a vending machine operator, it will refer the operator to particular stock locations within the vending machine. For example, the first product on the top row may have reference A1 , whereas the fourth product on the third row may have reference C4.

The time of sale information is preferably processed to produce an output indicating preferred stock. More particularly, the output lists best selling products. If a list of best selling products is produced by the vending machine, it is preferably possible for the vending machine operator to scroll through the list of best selling products. This will allow the operator to find out which is the worst selling product, if this is not already obvious from the product remaining in the vending machine.

The output preferably includes an indication of when a product was sold out.

According to the method of the present invention, a vending machine is refilled using better selling products in preference to other products. As a result of this, in time, the vending machine should become more profitable.

A method according to the present invention may comprise the steps of: determining whether a stock location is empty; if more than one location is empty, determining which location became empty first and ordering that location as the location which contained the best selling product, otherwise ordering the empty location as the location which contained the best selling product; and if one or more empty locations remain unordered, repeating the above step.

The method may also comprise the steps of: determining which unordered location or locations contain the least products; if more than one stock location contains the least product, determining which stock location reached that product level first and placing it next in the order of best selling products, otherwise placing the stock location next in the order of best selling products; and if one or more of the locations remains unordered, repeating the above step. In a preferred embodiment, the steps set forth above are repeated until all the stock locations have been placed in order.

The present invention also provides a vending machine comprising a plurality of stock locations and means for timing sales of the stock, wherein sales information is stored in the vending machine to assist refilling of the machine.

Such a vending machine is unknown at present, yet provides significant advantages in profitability.

The stock locations preferably include product supports and means for driving the stock to a delivery port.

The drive means may comprise horizontal spirals. Other drive means are, of course, known in the art.

Preferably the means for timing sales comprise clock means including time of day and date.

A vending machine according to the present invention preferably comprises a processor which stores the sales information and produces an output indicative of preferred stock. More particularly, the output preferably comprises a list of best selling stock.

In a particular embodiment, the output is visually displayed to an operator upon demand. Alternatively, the output could be downloaded into a laptop computer, for example, for display and subsequent transfer back to a central office facility.

A specific embodiment of the present invention is now described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is a schematic view of a vending machine according to the present invention; and Figure 2 is a flow diagram describing the steps taken by a vending machine operator when refilling the vending machine.

With reference to Figure 1 of the drawings, a glass fronted vending machine 1 comprises a plurality of stock locations formed by product supports 3 and horizontal helical drive means 5. Each stock location holds a particular type of product, such as a piece of confectionery, and is arranged to dispense one unit of the product upon payment of the required money through a coin slot 7. This dispensing is effected by means of helix 5 rotating to drive the confectionery product off the product support 3, such that the product falls into a product delivery outlet 9 for retrieval by a customer. Such vending machines are well known.

According to the present invention the vending machine 1 as shown in Figure 1 also includes a processor 11 having a clock facility which enables the time and date of each purchase of a product to be recorded in a memory within the processor 11. Thus, sales information relating to the products within the vending machine 1 is stored for subsequent use when an operator refills the vending machine 1.

As can be seen in Figure 1 , the vending machine 1 includes a display 13 which, in normal use, will provide a customer with information on the amount paid, product selected, etc. However, when the vending machine 1 is being refilled by an operator, this display 13 is used to pass on information to the operator about which of the products in the vending machine 1 have been most popular, and which have been least popular. The operator can then refill the vending machine 1 with appropriate products, thereby maximising the profitability of the vending machine 1.

An example of the steps followed by an operator, or route filler, will now be described with reference to Figure 2.

In step 20, the route filler visits the vending machine 1 to refill products. The vending machine door is opened (step 22) and the operator views the total sales on the vending machine display 13 (step 24). The processor 11 provides this information from its memory, and displays the information either by number of products sold or by sales value. The operator can then check whether the amount of money within a cash box (not shown) within the machine agrees with the sales value.

If the operator presses a button representing function 1 (F1) (step 26), access is obtained to the "best sellers" feature. This is embodied in software within the processor 11 and controls the storage and processing of the sales information. By activating this function, the vending machine 1 displays the location of the best selling spiral (i.e. between A1 and XX), as indicated in step 28. The operator can scroll between the best selling products and the worst selling products by pressing the DOWN or UP arrows (step 30) to review all relevant data.

If a number of stock locations are totally sold out, the operator accesses

"time of day" mode to establish the time and date of last sale from that location (step 32). This information gives the operator an idea of which product line sold out most quickly, and hence which is probably most popular. The operator can also access "time data" mode to establish the time and date of last fill of a particular helix 5, and hence use this to determine which products sold out first, second, etc. This is shown in step 34 and, in combination with step 32, provides the operator with sufficient information to make a valued judgement on which products should be used for refilling the vending machine 1. The operator may then remove the slowest selling products and replace these with the best selling products as determined by steps 32 and 34. This step is shown as step 36.

Once the refilling procedure has been completed, the processor is reset

(step 38) to enter the latest fill time and date for use during the next visit. Once this has been achieved and the vending machine 1 has been completely refilled, the glass fronted door 15 of the machine 1 is closed and the vending machine 1 is once again ready for use (step 40). The process highlighted in steps 20-40 can be repeated each time a vending machine operator accesses the vending machine 1 , thereby ensuring that the most popular products are always available in the vending machine 1 , thus resulting in maximising the profitability of the machine.

As will be appreciated, the present invention is embodied in a vending machine 1 and involves a method of improving the profitability of such a machine. In theory, however, the invention could be applied to other situations where "best sellers" occur. Furthermore, a significant part of the invention is embodied as computer software in a processor 11 , but in theory this could take the form of hardware only. Those skilled in the art will, however, have sufficient information from the above to put this invention into practice.

It will of course be understood that the present invention has been described above purely by way of example, and that modifications of detail can be made within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A method of optimising stock in a vending machine, wherein time of sale information is utilised to prioritise stock levels.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the information includes time of day and date information.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the information is stored according to stock location.

4. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the time of sale information is processed to produce an output indicating preferred stock.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the output lists best selling products.

6. A method as claimed in claim 4 or claim 5, wherein the output includes an indication of when a product was sold out.

7. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the vending machine is refilled using better selling products in preference to other products.

8. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising the steps of: determining whether a stock location is empty; if more than one location is empty, determining which location became empty first and ordering that location as the location which contained the best selling product, otherwise ordering the empty location as the location which contained the best selling product; and if one or more empty locations remain unordered following the above step, repeating the above step.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8, further comprising the steps of: determining which of the unordered locations contain the least products; if more than one location contains the least product, determining which stock location reached that product level first and placing it next in the order of best selling products, otherwise placing the stock location next in the order of best selling products; and if one or more of the locations remains unordered following the above step, repeating the above step.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the steps set forth are repeated until all the stock locations have been placed in order.

11. A method of optimising the stock in a vending machine, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

12. A vending machine comprising a plurality of stock locations and means for timing sales of the stock, wherein sales information is stored in the vending machine to assist refilling of the machine.

13. A vending machine as claimed in claim 12, wherein the stock locations include product supports and means for driving the stock to a delivery port.

14. A vending machine as claimed in claim 13, wherein the drive means comprise horizontal spirals.

15. A vending machine as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein the means for timing sales comprises clock means including time of day and date.

16. A vending machine as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 15, wherein a processor stores the sales information and produces an output indicative of preferred stock.

17. A vending machine as claimed in claim 16, wherein the output comprises a list of best selling stock.

18. A vending machine as claimed in claim 16 or claim 17, wherein the output is visually displayed to an operator upon demand.

19. A vending machine substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.