Residents of Georgia, Pennslyvania, and a handful of other states have noticed an increase in the number of gaming terminals present in their local grocery stores.
The surging number of these machines isn’t the byproduct of aesthetic decisions made by major retailers — many grocery chains are seeking additional revenue streams to supplement their in-store sales and help enhance profitability in the new year.
Service Expansion
According to research conducted by McKinsey & Company, revenue diversification is one of the best strategies for grocers to deploy in 2024 to ensure future viability. The study found multiple instances of national and regional food retailers expanding offerings outside of their traditional core product and service line(s) in 2023.
These offerings included B2B services such as e-marketplaces for third-party vendors to engage consumers, online and in-person nutrition and healthcare solutions centers, and, yes, you guessed it—consumer services.
As to why grocery stores have revised their model to include these revenue streams, margin pressure, and profitability concerns appear to be the primary culprits. These concerns have soared as the rise of grocers’ capital expenditures has outpaced revenue growth. In simpler terms, grocery stores have been increasing spending year over year to prevent issues with their supply chain (among other areas), but their revenue totals have not grown as expected.
Experiential Services & Grocery Stores
In an era in which fast service and convenient store layouts are must-haves for grocers to survive, some brands have introduced unique elements to their storefront locations to differentiate themselves from the rest of the competition.
Experiential services and immersive environments have begun popping up in grocery stores across the country. These experiences can command consumer attention and are key to increasing grocery store revenue streams, according to insights from JLL, a leading commercial real estate and investment management services provider.
To create enjoyable shopping experiences, many grocery stores are enhancing their layouts with the likes of trendy cocktail bars, high-end cafes, and additional entertainment kiosks to maximize customer engagement.
Restocking Revenue Through Skill Gaming Terminals
When it comes to in-store entertainment, grocery stores have introduced photobooths, augmented reality experiences, and other interactive hardware to catch the attention of storegoers.
One of the best ways grocers can implement such a strategy is by deploying skill gaming terminals. These terminals can serve as a practical and low-effort revenue diversification tool for owners in need of new passive grocery store revenue streams that do not require heavy investment or maintenance.
States such as Georgia, Nebraska, and Wyoming have led the charge, with grocery stores and other retailers embracing skill gaming as a valuable new revenue source for their respective locations. More recently, grocery stores in Pennslyvania and Virginia are adding machines to entice shoppers to play a few games during their visit.
The INAMAX Advantage
INAMAX’s skill gaming terminals provide monetary advantages to retailers that competing providers simply cannot match.
In some states, such as Georgia, location owners can walk away with over 40% of the total revenue produced by their terminals. This is an exceptional opportunity to increase store profits, especially when you consider that the average INAMAX machine generates retailers $5,000 per month in extra revenue per machine.
In addition to added revenue in the form of cash-in-game transactions, INAMAX gaming terminals can also draw new audiences to individual storefronts. This, in turn, can lead to increased product and service sales over time.
For most retailers, altering a grocery store’s floor plan is a major decision. After all, a store’s interior is more than just a home for groceries—it’s an extension of company branding and culture. Retaining brand consistency is critical, and at INAMAX, we understand how important it is to prevent bulky additions to your stores.
That’s why our terminals are built to maximize engagement with minimal floor space. Requiring a mere 5-7 square feet of space to operate, INAMAX’s gaming terminals can efficiently generate revenue for your business without drastically disturbing store layouts.
Food retailers are known to conduct research and ensure due diligence before investing in a new revenue stream, and for good reason. New revenue-generating opportunities can be exciting for brands at first, but if technological failures disrupt operations and ruin the customer experience, user engagement and profitability both begin to plummet.
While specialized maintenance is required to ensure the functionality of skill gaming terminals, INAMAX’s Culture of Support provides our corporate partners with the technical assistance needed to maximize revenue growth.
Our 24/7 technical customer support lines are available to our retail partners 365 days per year. On average, the INAMAX support team schedules service visits within 6 hours of submitting a ticket, making INAMAX a leader in machine uptime and customer service.
The reality of retail gaming experiences is that some games will outperform others. Without data to inform terminal selection and placement, retailers cannot effectively maximize revenue generation. By partnering with INAMAX, retailers can implement actionable strategies fueled by performance data recorded and analyzed by our team to increase customer engagement and cash-in transactions.
If you are interested in learning more about deploying INAMAX gaming terminals in one or more of your grocery store locations, please call us at 770.449.0400 ext. 700 or fill out our contact form found here.