CHICAGO — American Coin-Op’s Wire survey this month examines customer trends and preferences. What vended products are customers purchasing? What types of TV shows are requested? It’s time to take a closer look at customer preferences.POPULAR DAYS, POPULAR EQUIPMENTNinety-two percent of survey respondents say that Saturday (19%) and Sunday (73%) are the busiest laundry days. Monday (4%) and Wednesday (3%) are the next busiest days, and 1% say Friday is the busiest day. No one selected Tuesday or Thursday as the busiest day.Eighty-four percent of respondents say front loaders are the most-used washers, while 16% say top loaders are No. 1. The most popular front loaders by capacity are 40-pound units (31.7%); 35-pound units (18.8%); 20- and 50-pound units (10.5% each); and 30-pound units (8.2%).VENDED ITEMSWhen it comes to the most popular vended snacks, respondents point to a wide variety of items. However, one thing stands out: salty items rule over sweet items. The most popular snacks are the various types of Doritos, with 27.8% of respondents choosing these items. Cheetos drew 17.7% and potato chips drew 14%.On the sweet side, the most popular items are various types of cookies and M&M’s.If you offer snacks, customers certainly need some drinks to wash them down, but there’s a pretty tight race for the No. 1 drink. The leaders are Pepsi at 26.8%, Coke at 22.6%, Mountain Dew at 17.5% and water at 15.4%. Energy drinks garnered 5.1%, and the “uncolas” — 7-Up and Sprite — only drew 3% of the vote.When it comes to vended detergent, 86% of survey respondents say Tide is the most popular.CHANNEL-SURFINGSports and news, at 24.6% each, are the most-requested TV shows at stores. Other popular types of shows are soap operas (18.4%), children’s programming (12.3%), and talk shows (10.7%).A wide variety of program types garnered votes, including food-related shows, religious programming, movies, foreign-language programming and dramas. Surprisingly, no one listed sitcoms.While the American Coin-Op Wire survey presents a snapshot of readers’ viewpoints at a particular moment, it should not be considered scientific.Subscribers to American Coin-Op’s Wire e-mails — distributed weekly — are invited to participate in an industry survey each month. The survey is conducted online via a partner website. Each survey is developed so it can be completed in 10 minutes or less. Readers are encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define operator opinions and industry trends.Click here and follow the menu instructions to sign up for the free e-mail service.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].