Since before we opened our doors in 1994 Wellington Technologies knew that the most profitable location for an ATM to be in a convenience store is right by the front door. How did we know? Wellington owner Jerry Magnuson completed studies on ATM placement in retail locations in the mid-1980′s. While working for a large bank’s ATM deployment project he found, front door placement to be the most profitable location every time.

Front door placement can double your transaction volume:

Case 1: While doing site inspections of some convenience store locations in Western Montana we noticed that the ATM had been moved about 20 feet away from the front door to the end of the aisle. We asked the manager why the ATM had been moved from its original location by the front door. “I want the ice cream freezer by the front door” was the reply that we received. When we advised her that her ATM transaction volume had dropped significantly since moving it she very reluctantly allowed us to move it back to its original position by the front door. Within 1 week the stores ATM transaction volume not only reached its original volume but also was doing double what it had been when it was sitting 20 feet from the front door.

Large convenience stores and truck stops benefit from having more than 1 ATM:

Case 2: One of our most profitable customers is the proud owner of many convenience stores and truck stops. Like all of us they are always looking for ways to increase their profits with minimal investment of time and money. They agreed to try our theory that if a location has multiple entrances and an ATM is placed at each entrance their transaction volume would increase exponentially. The first location we placed a “test” ATM in for them was one of their large truck stops that has gas pumps and entrances on 2 sides of the building. The original ATM had been placed by the door leading in from the regular gas pumps and was doing an average of 1500 transactions per month. We placed the 2nd ATM at the door leading in from the diesel pumps where the truck drivers fueled up.

Low and behold, the new ATM did an additional 600 transactions the 1st month without affecting the transaction volume of the original machine.