How to increase sales and ideas??

judosean2005

Hey, i dont really know where to post this but i have a few questions.
I am currently a manager of a small convience store and im sure yere are all aware that were in a recession atm, but its not over and its gonna get worse im afraid. SO wat im wondering is:

1. Can u think of any way to increase my current businnes sale?

2. When u go into your local shop what do you look for in regards to products, price and offers?

3. Is there section that i just need to eliminate like stationery, off licence or even ice cream??

i know this is alot to ask, but i have been thinking of ways to change the store but i need more ideas,

Thank you

Sean

PS,my store is located close to some local schools and a third level college and a few offices are close by.

Tangled

Do you have a deli? If so I would target the schools and offices with lunch time meal deals etc.

Do you have a Facebook page for the business? You could use this to target the students, put up daily offers, discount vouchers etc.

Have a look at what the other shops around you stock - is there something you could specialise in that they're not doing well or doing expensively? Maybe cards, gifts etc?

Are there any small local producers you could start stocking? If you got known for carrying X's breads or jams it would bring people to you (if there is no-one else in the area stocking them). Visit any local farmer's markets and see if there is anyone not stocked in shops who would be willing to supply you.

Orlock

theres probably an 80/20 rule somewhere that will highlight the right directin for you to take, so there is probably 80 % of your effort going into 20% of your profit or products and 80% of your profit coming from 20% of your effort, find what this is and focus more heavily on it, even for a trial period

judosean2005

hey Guys,
Thanks for the quick replies,
I have a Deli,with hot and Cold products.

I think your right about the meal deals idea, however people are more choosey then ever, and some even bring pcked luches, which was a thing of the past,
The facebook idea is great,i will do this ASAP. never thought of it.

ok, So basicly its a trial error kind of a time, And i need to test the water to see wat is biting??

Sean

P.S. Ive read a few articles(hoever they are old) and they say that impulse buying is the way to go, tht have items like chewing gum close to hand and they will pick it up.
but Customers are no longer in a fast pace rushed life, they are more likely to study the contents and evaluate the price these days.

george007

did you ever try bluetooth advertising

sparrowcar

Meal deals for lunch is great but don't forget meals deals for dinner.

Students in the college would hoover up a "pasta kit" or a "sausages, beans and mash kit"

The office staff might buy one of those meal for 2 with a bottle of wine and dessert deals.

The dinner deals do well at this time of the year with short evenings and people tired after work

NathanKingerlee

What gets me into my small local shop, even though it's pricier than the chain-stores, is the convenience on the way home, off-licence, coal and especially the friendly chat.

Is there a way to leverage the fact you're a small shop, with the personal friendly touch, like with a facebook page (like Tangled suggests), which has interactions and competitions such as friends/fans can choose the sandwich of the week, which would then have a special deal on it.

DVDs beside the check out, or at the off-licence, is done by a couple of bigger chain stores I've noticed also.

Tangled

The dinner deals are a great idea. Talk to your reps, tell them you want to do some deals like that and can they do anything for you - you may be surprised at what they might throw your way (cans of drink, box of crisps, box of rolls..). I also like the idea of a 'dinner for two' thing with a bottle of wine and dessert, just the kind of thing I'd pick up if I stopped in a shop on the way home from work.

judosean2005

hey guys, Funny when ye start talking about Dinner meals etc,

I had a guy from a Popular chinese in my town ask if i would be interested in taking stock off of him, He's very quite and is obviously looking for business,everything is sale or return,

So i was thinking something like this.

Chinese meal for 2, which includes 2 main meals,2 starters and a bottle of wine for €20.00.

margin wouldnt be great at first at maybe 12% but business is business right??

Also i set up the Facebook Page,Not great atm,but feel free to check it out and id appreciate suggestions.

Name is : Scanlons Spar

Sean

NathanKingerlee

Will you post the Facebook url; I can't find it.

Tangled

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Scanlons-Spar/119118021490307

Your next step is to generate lots of 'likers'..!

Can I ask if you have full off-license or just wines?

judosean2005

Hey guys,

I have sent invites to all of the staff, old staff, friends and a few local neighbours.
I have a 2 bay drop of only wines.

It should be noted that i have another more ''MODERN'' spar maybe 200 yards from my store and maybe 2/3 more independent stores maybe 200yards all around me.

Sean

NathanKingerlee

Sounds like customer retention and loyalty is the way to go then.
This link, of one of my local outdoor shops, may give you some ideas of a retail store using Facebook well: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kerry-Outdoor-Sports/148971468472592
(I know Facebook is only a very small part of the overall job you've got to do, but somewhere to start anyway)

judosean2005

Yea,it definatley means something.

even if the customers interact its still advertising in my eyes.

When i get a good fan base up.I loved the idea of letting the customers compete for a sandwich competion,would be mad id say

Sean

Zon

judosean2005 wrote: »

Yea,it definatley means something.

even if the customers interact its still advertising in my eyes.

When i get a good fan base up.I loved the idea of letting the customers compete for a sandwich competion,would be mad id say

Sean

Speaking of sandwiches, get a deal going, or a daily deal even for €2 sandwiches, or €2.49 or something. Or even better, €2.99 with a can or small water/tea/coffee. There's nothing I hate more than having to fork out the guts of €4 for a sandwich. You can be damn sure I'd be a returning customer if I could get a sandwich for €2. €2 sandwich = win. In saying all that, perhaps €2 is unrealistic. I know nothing about business, all I know and understand in life is sandwiches.

judosean2005

lol ZON=Sandwich lover got it,lol

Ya i was thinking recently,when we close our Deli at 6 o clock to make up a few simple sandwichs like
ham and cheese
turkey lettuce
tuna
BLT
and charging like 2.50

deli closed but still making money

sean

Axwell

If you have a college nearby then you definitely need to focus on the deal with rolls/sandwiches in the deli. Anywhere near me has deals where you get a chicken fillet roll, crisps and a bottle of water or 7up or whatever for a set deal price. Im sure the same could be done with breakfast rolls etc. Chances are when they buy the deal they might buy a bar of choclate or whatever too when they get up to the till if the deal was cheap enough. My local spar also does free tea/coffee or hot choclate with any panini bought, stuff like that is always going to attract students.

The dinner deal is a good idea too, do up a few posters with specials if possible for 3 items that would make up a student dinner special, sausages, beans and chips for €x

How is business at the deli currently with the other modern spar competing up the road? Also which spar is the first they come across if they are coming from college? Might be no harm to put together some flyers and hand them out outside the college and stick the facebook page on them and post regular offers up on facebook that they can keep an eye out for. Same applies for deals on stationary and whatever else you could offer them.

All this focuses on the students but i think considering you are beside a 3rd level college this should be your main focus starting off since its on your doorstep and if you get those coming in regualrly you can focus on other stuff after.

DubTony

Hi Sean,

There are 3 very important things these days. Price, price and Price. No, it's not a typo. It's what people are after these days. You need to compete.

Location, of course, is important and with a bunch of schools nearby you should be trading steadily and quite profitably, this is of course, if yours is the local shop of choice. I've checked out the store on googlemaps, and it looks like you've a bigger unit than any of the competition in the immediate vicinity. I'd suggest you take the areas that are currently most profitable for you and expand on them. This should allow you to reduce the prices in the sections that aren't performing well, and so attract more customers - if you advertise the sh*t out of it. Use those windows to let the customers know what's going on in your store. And a leaflet drop with some strong offers should bring more business your way.

To give an example of how this can work, I had a store a few years ago where 50% of turnover was cigarettes, phone credit and lottery tickets, yet I still held a scanning margin of 22% - 24%, with an actual of about 3 points less than that. Minerals, confectionery and snacks were all at the max price I could get while grocery lines competed well with all 3 big-named local supermarkets. My location mix was similar to yours. Pub, bookies, 3 schools, and a load of houses. When people in the area were "hopping out to the shop" they didn't think twice about where to go. My shop was the destination. Simple as.

You say you have an off-licence. Is it full, or just wine? This is an area you can certainly capitalise on, especially if it's a full licence. Use the beers as loss leaders (take a very small margin) and compete with the supermarkets. The trick is to get the people you have coming in spending more, and attract new customers with good solid offers. Rotate the offers so they don't get boring. Stationery isn't going to pull the customers in. Ensure you've enough of the basics for the schools and let Eason's look after the rest. If you reduce the section use it for attractive, fast moving lines - including ice-cream. Make sure you're cross-selling. Burger buns in dual locations (bread and at the freezer, Ice cream wafers beside the ice-cream fridge etc.).

Meal deals don't just have to mean stuff from the deli. If you're selling pre-packed meat, advertise a lasagna deal, or pasta sauce and mince deal. Make sure the deal is highlighted in both locations and get your imagination going. Consider recipe cards and make a point of setting up a mix'n'match on the items in each menu. Good offers will bring them in and keep them there.

But the shopping experience has to be good as well. Your customers will find any reason to moan and / or complain. So be sure you aren't the one giving them those reasons. If your shop is cluttered, get it cleared. If it's dark, make it bright. If the staff are grumpy, make them happy. If your bread and milk deliveries aren't in early enough, get them in earlier. If your BWG truck blocks the whole road when it's delivering, make arrangements with your area manager to ensure it doesn't happen. If the shop is grubby, clean it. Make sure availability is top notch. Those chilled products guys don't give a damn if all the stuff is gone when they get to you, so it might be worth considering phoning in orders to make sure you have them - and sometimes it's good enough to call the driver early in the morning, order the stuff then, and throw him a sandwich when he gets to you. Yes - bribery works.

I know this is all basics. But in our keenness to do the extraordinary, the ordinary and hum-drum is often forgotten.

Hope this helps.

edit: As you're doing the facebook thing, do it right. Talk to these guys www.like.ie and see if they can do anything for you.
I just saw that other Spar. (Typical BWG, they'd put one on your friggin' doortep if there was a space available.) I'm not sure how this affects you, but I have a feeling it's not really a big competitor. If the traffic is heading in your direction and passing by that store, it's inconvenient to park there. Having said that, I think parking is an issue for you, and I have a feeling that passing trade isn't a big part of your customer base. So if I'm right it shouldn't matter.

Maybe you could talk to the head of the student union in the college. Discounts with the college ID, and maybe some deals to provide refreshments for the various clubs and societies.

I had a paintball society in college and they gave us 800 euro towards a day trip, a lot of that was used for lunch and kegs of beer, you could do lunch and cans of beer

A soup and sambo deal might be a good one for school and college kids in the winter, I imagine if you made big batches of soup onsite the margin would be pretty big

judosean2005

The Spar that is close to me was a Londis, but in the last 5 years or so has changed/revamped into a massive 60% deli store,(breakfast roll man days).
The college is in a opposite direction to the other Spar.
parking is/isnt an issue. Its an issue casue i only have road side parking,but its not an issue cause everyone double parks anyway,lol.

OK so wat have i gained from this::

Meal Deals is the way to go!!
Scope out a protuct that other shops dont stock.
Facebook,--Happy with this one,people looking already at it.
schools/colleges need to be won.

Sean

Axwell

You could add twitter to go with facebook. Plenty of students have internet ready phones (iphones, android etc) and you can tweet special offers that you have each day and easily gather followers on there too. You can also link twitter and facebook so the offers can appear on both.

rainbowdash

There are 2 shops near me, ones a centra, the others not. I used to go to the closer shop (non centra) but they never had special offers. Now I pass it in the car and go the extra 100m to centra.

I know whenever I go to Centra, for say, milk, which I need straight away, I will always be able to grab a few special offers, say 1/2 price ham or pizza etc. which I will need anyway in due course.

I'd make sure to always have special offers in a prominent spot, a mixture of sweets, taytos and proper stuff like sausages and rice etc.

Orlock

ye know theres a big market where I work for delivered rolls and sandwiches at lunchtime, if u can set it up on facebook or some other website that you cn order the sambo before 11 in the morning and thewn deliver it to the door you cvan charge 4.50 for the sambo and ppl can save an extra 20 minutes of their lunchbreak, have a look at fudecompany.com . . .