One of the areas that is often overlooked as part of a Retail Services initiative is that of Vending. It can be one of the most lucrative, and easy to fulfill parts, of the revenue flow. It is critical to establish the right vendor relationships in order to structure lucrative logistical and buying procedures.

In one real example* we were able to have discussions with our beverages distributors to investigate how the system could purchase the product in a lower cost bracket. This required some time to develop certain changes in the way the product was received and then filled into the machines. It also required some very strong negotiating with the Service Line Leader's involvement. We were able to develop a mini business plan to show the added volumes for all involved as a result of improving services and providing added locations on campus.

This relatively small change will improve the annual revenue by 13%, or $65,000.00 for just the one campus. This increase is not factoring any of the potential growth in volumes, it is only based on the real savings related to the cost of goods structure using a typical years sales. The multiplier for this type of positive change in a major health system is eye opening. For every 10 such Medical Centers in a system they could realize $650,000.00 in added revenues, just from a cost savings.

*350+ beds & 4,000 campus staff