{"id":1501,"date":"2026-11-09T00:10:57","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T16:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/?p=1501"},"modified":"2026-11-09T00:10:57","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T16:10:57","slug":"vending-machine-planogram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/vending-machine-planogram\/","title":{"rendered":"A Vending Machine Planogram Decides What Actually Sells"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two machines, one building, same products, same prices. One does 780 dollars a month. The other does 610. The difference is which row the Snickers sits in.<\/p>\n<p>That sounds like a small thing until you watch someone walk up to a machine. They do not read it. They scan it, top to bottom, and stop where their eyes land first. Whatever is on that shelf gets considered. Everything else has to be looked for, and nobody looks for a snack at 3pm. They take what they see.<\/p>\n<p>A vending machine planogram is that observation written down. It is a map of which product sits in which slot, how many facings it gets, and why. Operators who build one stop guessing at refill time and start comparing machines instead of arguing about them.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>The short version<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Eye level is the only premium real estate in the cabinet<\/li>\n<li>Rows two and three carry the best sellers and the best margins<\/li>\n<li>Weight decides the bottom row, not preference<\/li>\n<li>A planogram nobody updates is decoration<\/li>\n<li>Machines without coils need a different map entirely<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>Five shelves with different economics<\/h2>\n<p>A glass front snack machine is not one display. It is five or six shelves competing for the same customer, and they do not sell equally. Which products deserve the space at all is a separate question, covered in the notes on <a href=\"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/best-products-to-sell-in-a-vending-machine\/\">best products to sell in a vending machine<\/a>. This is about where the winners go once you have them.<\/p>\n<p>The golden zone sits at eye level, roughly 48 to 60 inches off the floor. This is where the scan stops. It is also the smallest part of the cabinet, which is why putting a slow mover there to help it along almost never works. The slow mover does not become visible. It just occupies the shelf a best seller needed.<\/p>\n<p>Above the golden zone, the top row carries light items. Bags of chips, popcorn, anything that hangs well and reads from a distance. Light weight matters up there for a mechanical reason. A heavy bag on the top coil drops harder and lands on whatever is below it.<\/p>\n<p>The middle rows are for candy, bars and pastries, the items people buy without planning to. Below the golden zone the rows still sell, but the customer has to want the item before they see it. That is fine for a known brand and bad for a new one.<\/p>\n<p>The bottom row belongs to weight. Bottled soda, water, juice, tea. A 20 ounce bottle is heavy, and a machine supports it better at the bottom. It also drops without crushing anything.<\/p>\n<p>Small coils at the very bottom or in a corner handle gum, mints and other low ticket items that people ask for by name.<\/p>\n<h2>Write the map down before you build the order<\/h2>\n<p>The useful part of a vending machine planogram is not the drawing. It is the fact that the drawing has names on it.<\/p>\n<p>Label every slot. Column A through F, row one through six, so B3 means one exact coil. Then record four things for each slot. The product, the number of facings, the coil depth it needs, and the price.<\/p>\n<table class=\"cc-table\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Slot<\/th>\n<th>Product<\/th>\n<th>Facings<\/th>\n<th>Coil depth<\/th>\n<th>Price<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>B2<\/td>\n<td>Salted chips, 1.75 oz<\/td>\n<td>2<\/td>\n<td>Large<\/td>\n<td>1.50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>B3<\/td>\n<td>Candy bar, 1.86 oz<\/td>\n<td>1<\/td>\n<td>Standard<\/td>\n<td>2.00<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>C3<\/td>\n<td>Peanut candy, share size<\/td>\n<td>1<\/td>\n<td>Standard<\/td>\n<td>2.50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>E1<\/td>\n<td>Bottled water, 20 oz<\/td>\n<td>2<\/td>\n<td>Large<\/td>\n<td>1.50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>F5<\/td>\n<td>Gum, single pack<\/td>\n<td>3<\/td>\n<td>Small<\/td>\n<td>1.25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Once that exists, refilling becomes a checklist instead of a decision, and two people can service the same machine and leave it identical. Without it, every refill is a small improvisation, and ten improvisations a week turn into a cabinet that looks different every time a customer walks past.<\/p>\n<h2>Where the price sits on the map<\/h2>\n<p>Price is part of the layout, and most plans leave it out.<\/p>\n<p>The label rail is read the same way the coils are, top to bottom and left to right. A cabinet where the top row is 1.75 and the bottom row is 1.50 tells a story before anyone reads a single product name. If the story is that the machine gets cheaper as you look down, customers learn to look down. That is fine for water and bad for the item you actually want them to buy.<\/p>\n<p>Two habits keep the labels working with the layout.<\/p>\n<p>First, keep a price ladder with no holes. Every step of 25 or 50 cents should have something on it, so a customer who wants to spend two dollars finds an option near two dollars instead of choosing between 1.25 and 3.50.<\/p>\n<p>Second, put the anchor where the eye lands. The expensive item in the golden zone makes the row beside it look reasonable. The same item on the bottom row anchors nothing, because nobody scans that far unless they already know what they want.<\/p>\n<p>The label also has to match the coil. A 2.50 tag over a slot holding a 1.50 bag is not a pricing error, it is a trust error, and it produces refund requests that cost more than the difference. This is one more reason a vending machine planogram belongs on paper with prices on it, not in someone&#8217;s head. If the pricing side of this needs its own pass, the notes on <a href=\"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/vending-machine-pricing-strategy\/\">vending machine pricing strategy<\/a> cover how to set the numbers before they go on the rail.<\/p>\n<h2>Facings, coil depth and the jam you did not plan for<\/h2>\n<p>A facing is one coil dedicated to one product. Two facings means the same item in two coils.<\/p>\n<p>Double facing is the cheapest fix in vending. When a product sells out in two days, give it a second coil instead of letting the row go empty on day three. An empty coil does not read as popular. It reads as broken, and a customer who sees three empty spirals stops trusting the rest of the machine.<\/p>\n<p>Coil depth is where most plans fall apart. A deep coil holds more units but pushes the front item further back, and a short product in a deep coil tips sideways and jams. Match the coil to the pack, not to the case count you wish you could fit.<\/p>\n<p>Weight limits are the other silent failure. A coil rated for a light bag will not push a heavy bar reliably, and the vend fails at the worst moment, which is when someone has already paid.<\/p>\n<h2>The 30 day rule and the swap ledger<\/h2>\n<p>A vending machine planogram is a hypothesis. Some of it will be wrong.<\/p>\n<p>The rule that keeps it honest is simple. Any slot that has not sold in 30 days gets reviewed. Not pulled immediately, reviewed. Three possible answers. The product is wrong for this building. The price is wrong for this building. The slot is wrong for this product.<\/p>\n<p>Then log the swap. Date, slot, what came out, what went in. Six months of that log tells you more about a location than any report, because it shows what has already been tried. Most operators repeat the same failed experiment every year because nobody wrote down the first attempt.<\/p>\n<p>Keep one test coil per machine. It is how a new flavor or a regional item gets a fair trial without risking a whole row, and it gives the regulars a reason to look at the cabinet again.<\/p>\n<p>The swap log only works if the stock behind it works too. Par levels per slot, and a reorder point that reflects how fast that specific row moves, are the other half of the system, and <a href=\"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/vending-machine-inventory-management\/\">vending machine inventory management<\/a> covers how to set them without overstocking the slow rows to protect the fast ones.<\/p>\n<h2>Rotation, dates and the pastry problem<\/h2>\n<p>First in, first out is not optional in a machine with pastries and chocolate.<\/p>\n<p>Pull the older units forward, load new stock behind them. Sounds obvious until you watch a refill at speed, where the easy move is to top up the front and leave the old stock buried at the back of the coil. That stock comes out three weeks later, expired, and the loss is invisible because it never showed up as a sale that did not happen.<\/p>\n<p>Short dated items belong in the rows you service most often. A pastry in a machine you visit every ten days is a write off waiting to happen. A pastry in a machine you visit twice a week is a reliable seller.<\/p>\n<p>Chocolate has its own season. In a warm lobby it softens, and a soft bar that sags in the coil jams the vend. If the building runs hot in July, the candy rows need to move down or the mix needs to change.<\/p>\n<h2>When there are no coils at all<\/h2>\n<p>Much of the equipment on the market does not work like a snack machine, and the planogram idea has to be translated rather than copied.<\/p>\n<p>A robotic cotton candy machine does not have coils or facings. It has a sugar hopper, a set of sticks and a program list. The layout question becomes which patterns sit on the first screen and in what order, because the first screen is the golden zone. The same logic applies, it just lives in software instead of steel. The <a href=\"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/compact-cotton-candy-vending-machine-guide\/\">compact cotton candy vending machine guide<\/a> covers how those menus are usually built.<\/p>\n<p>A phone case printing machine has a design catalog instead of rows. The top of that catalog is the shelf at eye level. Whatever sits in the first eight thumbnails gets printed, and everything past the second swipe might as well not exist. The <a href=\"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/phone-case-printing-vending-machine-business\/\">phone case printing business notes<\/a> go through how the catalog and the pricing tiers are set up.<\/p>\n<p>An ice cream or frozen drink machine sits between the two. Product is fixed, but the visible menu and the cup sizes do the merchandising work.<\/p>\n<p>If you are weighing a coil machine against one of these, the layout you can control is part of the decision. Coil cabinets give you dozens of small adjustable positions. A cotton candy unit gives you a handful of large ones and a screen. Neither is better in the abstract. They reward different kinds of attention.<\/p>\n<h2>Test on twin machines, not on opinions<\/h2>\n<p>If you run two machines in similar buildings, you have a laboratory and probably are not using it.<\/p>\n<p>Give one the current layout and one a changed layout. Same products, same prices, one variable. Run it for a month and compare revenue per machine, not units per machine, because the whole point is money rather than movement.<\/p>\n<p>The measurement that matters is at slot level. A machine doing 700 dollars a month tells you almost nothing. Knowing that B3 sells out twice as fast as D5 tells you where the next facing should go, and it is the kind of fact that only shows up when the layout is written down and tracked.<\/p>\n<p>Remote monitoring makes this cheap. Sales by slot arrive without a visit, and a planogram review turns into twenty minutes with a report instead of a drive to three buildings. What the <a href=\"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/vending-machine-remote-monitoring\/\">remote monitoring systems<\/a> actually report, and what they miss, decides whether the slot data is worth trusting.<\/p>\n<h2>Five mistakes worth avoiding<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Giving eye level to a slow mover.<\/strong> It rarely lifts the item and always costs a best seller its best position.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Copying one planogram across every machine.<\/strong> A gym and a warehouse break room buy different things at different hours. A shared template is a starting point, not a plan.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Updating the document without touching the machine.<\/strong> The map and the cabinet drift apart within a month, and then the map stops being trusted.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ignoring the physical limits.<\/strong> Coil depth, product weight, cooling zones. A plan that cannot be loaded is not a plan.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Never reviewing it.<\/strong> Seasons change, buildings change tenants, and a layout from two winters ago is a guess wearing a spreadsheet.<\/p>\n<p>A vending machine planogram costs one afternoon and a printed grid. It pays back in fewer empty coils, fewer jams, less expired stock and a clearer answer to the only question that matters at the end of the month, which is which rows earned their space. If you want a starting layout for a specific cabinet and building type, tell us the machine and the traffic pattern and we will send one over. The <a href=\"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/contact-us\/\">contact page<\/a> reaches the team directly.<\/p>\n<h2>Questions fr\u00e9quemment pos\u00e9es<\/h2>\n<h3>What is a vending machine planogram?<\/h3>\n<p>A vending machine planogram is a diagram that assigns a product to every slot in a cabinet, with the number of facings and the price for each. It works as a refill checklist, a record of what has been tried, and the baseline for any layout test.<\/p>\n<h3>Which row of a vending machine sells best?<\/h3>\n<p>Rows two and three, at roughly 48 to 60 inches from the floor. That is where a customer&#8217;s scan stops, so those rows should hold the best sellers and the highest margin items rather than whatever needs help.<\/p>\n<h3>How often should a vending machine planogram change?<\/h3>\n<p>Review it monthly if the location is high traffic and quarterly if it is stable. Any slot with no sales in 30 days gets a review, and every change should be logged so the next person knows what was already tried.<\/p>\n<h3>Should heavy drinks go on the bottom row?<\/h3>\n<p>Yes. A 20 ounce bottle is heavy, and the bottom row supports it, drops it cleanly and keeps it from landing on lighter products. Light bags belong at the top for the same reason in reverse.<\/p>\n<h3>Do robotic machines like cotton candy units need a planogram?<\/h3>\n<p>They need the same thinking in a different form. There are no coils, so the equivalent of eye level is the first screen of the menu. The patterns shown first are the ones customers order, and the order of that list is the layout decision.<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\n    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n    \"@type\": \"FAQPage\",\n    \"mainEntity\": [\n        {\n            \"@type\": \"Question\",\n            \"name\": \"What is a vending machine planogram?\",\n            \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n                \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n                \"text\": \"A vending machine planogram is a diagram that assigns a product to every slot in a cabinet, with the number of facings and the price for each. 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The golden zone, facings, coil depth, and the 30 day rule that keeps a layout honest.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-industry-advisory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1502,"href":"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501\/revisions\/1502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redrabbitvending.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}