The business involves either buying or renting the machine, stocking it, and dealing with landlords, customers and malfunctions.
Married couple Derek Gue and Grace Tan were inspired to start their vending machine business after a trip to Japan in 2017 where they came across vending machines stocked with everything from cakes to raincoats to toys.
Avatar Tech is one of the few, if not the only, registered businesses here that run vending machine tours. Ms Tan, a former English-language tutor, is now the primary caregiver to their 18-month-old daughter and manages the administrative side of the business. Mr Gue balances his full-time job as a financial planner with handling logistics and operations, such as procuring stock and replenishing the machines.
For instance, Ms Tan was quoted $15,000 to install a telemetry system – a real-time data acquisition tool – on one of the vending machines to monitor its product stock remotely, but she baulkedShe priced each item in her vending machine differently – some varying by just one cent – to create unique product codes. For instance, a canned drink can be priced at $1.02 and a snack at $1.03, creating two different numerical identifiers on the machines which take only cashless payments.
include selling products and services online, doing gigs like food delivery and being a social media influencer. Mr Derek Gue, who is a co-founder of Avatar Tech and a financial planner, handles the majority of the restocking of his vending machines. ST PHOTO: HENG YI-HSIN Compared with other businesses, a vending machine business has low barriers to entry. It does not require special skills or qualifications, a physical storefront, an extensive inventory or a large staff.
“One of the biggest misconceptions about running a vending machine business is that it’s passive income. It is anything but. You have to manage landlords, troubleshoot machine issues, procure stock, respond to customer feedback and more,” she adds.One Singaporean millennial who has experienced the challenges of the industry first-hand is financial planner Caleb Tan, 31, who started out with one vending machine in July 2023.
Mr Tan, who is engaged, says: “Many young people are keen on the industry because they think it is easy money. With this TikTok account, I want to show that there’s real effort that goes into running the business.” “You have to think of it as owning a mamak shop and be open to trial and error. At the end of the day, time is money and the aim should be to operate as efficiently as possible to make it worth your while,” he adds.Despite these challenges, swimming coach Buck Yi Hong, 31, who recently attended a vending machine tour by Avatar Tech, is keen to push through.
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