PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES FOR DETERMINING ALLOCATION OF INVENTORY FOR A VENDING MACHINE

摘要

According to an embodiment, an allocation of inventory for a vending machine (e.g., a mix or set of types of products and respective quantities of products to be loaded into a snack or beverage vending machine) is determined. In an embodiment, a computer or other computing device may be configured to (i) identify one or more vending machine products (e.g., from a universe of available products), (ii) determine an inventory allocation based on inventory management data associated with the products (e.g., data regarding the profitability of one or more particular products), and (iii) output an inventory allocation recommendation indicating an inventory allocation (e.g., a chart instructing an agent how to stock a particular vending machine). In various embodiments, inventory management data may comprise such criteria as slotting requirements, sales rates (e.g., the number of units of a particular product type sold per day), profitability (e.g., the retail price of a unit of a particular product type minus the unit cost of the product; the profit margin of a product type multiplied by a sales rate), outstanding product "subscription" data, seasonality considerations, weather considerations, product "tenure," product mix (i.e., variety) considerations, expiration data, "soft demand" data (e.g., customers who have indicated a prospective willingness to purchase a product if stocked), and the like.