16 Jul Understanding the Oklahoma City Micro-Market Shopper
The micro-market is drawing more Oklahoma City employees into their at-work break room than traditional vending ever has. This increase is great news for both employers and vending operators. Now, the biggest challenge is determining which beverages, snacks, and food options to offer to keep bringing those new customers back.
The solution — understand the mindset of the micro-market shopper.
Before getting to know your Oklahoma City micro-market consumers, it is important to acknowledge the three types of shoppers: traditional, traditional-healthy, and healthy.
Traditional
The traditional consumer usually prefers products that are traditionally found in vending machines. Their go-to place for snacks and beverages, these employees have been making purchases from the break room vending machine since before the micro-market was available. The key to keeping traditional consumers coming back to the micro-market is to offer multiple flavors of their favorite snacks and beverages.
Traditional-Healthy
The traditional-healthy consumer moves back and forth between the two sides. They express a desire for healthier items, but micro-market sales reports show that they still mostly purchase traditional items. One way to engage traditional-healthy consumers is to offer extensions of familiar items that meet new wellness trends, such as snack items with more protein or smaller calorie packs.
Healthy
The healthy consumer seeks out snacks, beverages, and meals that are good-for-you or better-for-you. Offering an expanded variety of options, the Oklahoma City micro-market is a viable option for the healthy consumer. The biggest challenge is ensuring that the healthy product offerings are customized enough and, at the same time, broad enough for the majority. Balancing healthy items with traditional ones needs to be done carefully to ensure that the micro-market is profitable.
To learn what your employees are looking for in a micro-market consider asking them the following questions.
- What types of snacks are most appealing? When would you consume them? Do they need to fulfill a purpose such as satisfy a sweet tooth or boost energy?
- What types of beverages would you purchase? When would you consume them? Do they need to fulfill a purpose such as hydration, a caffeine boost, or a meal replacement?
- What type of food would you buy?
- Are you looking for a space that is like a convenience store or a place to sit and interact with colleagues?
By surveying your Oklahoma City employees about one or more topics, it is possible to have a better understanding about what they want. Identify common themes and overlapping results and choose products that meet the needs of at least two types of shopper. Considering why and when a specific item is chosen is another way to ensure that more employees will be able to enjoy it.
And don’t worry. Hayes 405 Refreshments is here to help you design a break room that fits exactly what your Oklahoma City employees are looking for. Whether it’s a micro-market, healthy or traditional vending machines, or gourmet-style coffee service we have a solution for everyone. To learn more, contact us at 405-495-8667. We look forward to hearing from you.