British American Tobacco

British American Tobacco is a leading multi-category consumer goods company, headquartered in London, United Kingdom, who provide tobacco and nicotine products to millions of consumers around the world. British American Tobacco sells its brands in more than 200 markets and is a market leader in more than 50 of them. 

British American Tobacco was having issues relating to supplying 5,000 vending machines with tobacco products and various other consumer goods. British American Tobacco found that managing this fleet of vending machines was time-consuming and resulted in them having to spend time on administrative operations that were not part of their core business. Finally, there was also the additional challenge of upgrading all 5,000 vending machines with new readers to cope with the latest banknotes.

In close collaboration with DHL (who handle the logistics and upgrading aspects), CHG-MERIDIAN developed a concept for the efficient management of the vending machines. Newly fitted sensors allowed DHL drivers to supply the machines with tobacco products as required. As a result, British American Tobacco benefits from increased profits and satisfied customers.

CHG-MERIDIAN also acquired all of the tobacco company’s vending machines and leased them back to British American Tobacco via a sale and leaseback solution. This helped to improve the customers budget position. The agreed monthly service and lease payments covered everything, including:

• Installation
• Storage and delivery
• Repairs
• Upgrades

This resulted in significantly reducing British American Tobacco’s costs and risk, while at the same time, the regular rentals made costs clear and more predictable.