Case studies

Alton Towers

The UK's leading theme park invests in remote monitoring technology for better vending machine management control.

Managing the stock control, cash control and general day-to-day running of Alton Towers' vending machines is a critical management role with wide-reaching implications for the overall profitability of the vending operation. In order to increase both efficiency and revenue, Alton Towers worked with BT redcare to install remote monitoring technology in all of its vending machines.

Renowned as the home of innovative and unique ride designs and business practices, Alton Towers' wide range of attractions draws over two million visitors per day, with over 1,000 staff employed during the peak season. With that many visitors, the vending machines need to be continually monitored and restocked.

Phil Matthews, Commercial Tactical Manager at Alton Towers, said: "BT redcare has given us absolute control of stock, stock-outs, cash control and so many other factors. We are alerted the moment a machine develops a fault and can react immediately. This is important to us, because improving efficiency is imperative to maintaining and growing profits. Growth has already been gained with revenues seeing an increase of 20% in 2001."

Since March 2001, BT redcare has supplied Alton Towers with vend online to remotely monitor its vending machines.

vend online instantly and automatically flags products that are out of stock or machines which have developed a fault. This gives Alton Towers greater management control. Now the park fills its machines on demand and minimises machine downtime. vend online also provides valuable sales and marketing information, which enables management to determine the most profitable product mix for each and every machine.

vend online translates and stores this sales and marketing data on a database and loads it on to a secure website. This enables branded partners like Coca-Cola and Cadbury to access the data, giving them total flexibility over where they can access it from and who they grant access to. The data is updated as frequently as is required.

Phil Matthews continues, "The data we receive from vend online is very easy to access and is presented in a really user-friendly format. And what's more, our branded partners can enjoy these benefits as a result of the vend online service."

"We now have a reliable, stable and efficient business tool with which to advance and improve our business," he concludes.

Alton Towers plans to expand its vending operation to over 60 machines for the 2002 season, with telemetry playing a key role in this expansion.

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