Convenience Store

Business Solutions Tips

1. If you can't afford a full-time foodservice expert, take advantage of training materials from distributors and local and national restaurant associations as well as courses at nearby community colleges. Provided by NACS
2. Refrigeration can account for almost 40 percent of the energy used in a c-store. Save energy and cost by performing scheduled maintenance, replacing weak or broken door seals, and deep cleaning cases annually to ensure efficient air movement.
3. To make scan audits easier, turn cigarette cartons so that the barcodes are facing out in the same direction and don't mix different UPCs together. Provided by NACS
4. Safety First ...
• Be sure to make your business address visible to emergency units.
• Acknowledge every person who enters your place of business. Greet them in a friendly manner. The presence of alert, efficient and capable employees will discourage a thief.
• Maximize your visibility in and out of transaction areas by keeping windows clear and your business interior and exterior well-lit.
• Make daily cash receipt deposits and keep a minimum of cash on-site during night hours.
5. Consumers want VALUE
   King Size offers consumers value over Singles. Increase your dollar ring by helping consumers trade up to a value sized offering like King Size candy bars and larger size fountain drinks.
6. Marketing research shows the majority of people turn to the right when entering a store — use this to your advantage. Higher priced items can be placed to the right with lower priced items to the left. Or if you have an over abundance of an item you are trying to get rid of, set up a display on the right side of the store.
7. People tend to look more at eye level than up above or down below. High top shelves and low bottom shelves can be used to neatly organize overstock. Keep your main product supply where the customer can easily see it.
8. Clearly mark your sales prices on all your merchandise and on signs that will grab your customers' attention. Storefront signs will also increase traffic flow and let customers know there's a reason to stop in your store, and you might grab new customers who want to give you a try and see what you have on sale.
9. Each customer should be treated the same and given equal attention whether they buy something or not. Treat your customers with respect, and always go the extra mile for them. Word of mouth is priceless — your best advertising can come from a happy customer. All it costs is your time.
10. Be cautious when cutting costs. As soon as the economy starts slowing down, many business owners think they must cut costs. But this is a short-term solution. Only cut costs or decrease your prices if it won't harm your business later. You can always lower your price — but you can't always raise your price.
11. If you believe your sales are going to decrease because of a slow economy, it might be a good idea to reduce inventories and not restock to the same level. Be sure you know exactly how long it will take to replenish inventories once the economy picks back up. Provided by NACS
12. A c-store's business valuation and inventory levels can fluctuate, and need to be re-evaluated, so it's a mistake to auto-renew insurance at the same coverage from year to year. Provided by NACS
13. By "habitizing" your morning customer with coffee, you can reduce margin pressures. Customers who buy coffee, also buy other things. Provided by NACS
14. Your local Chamber of Commerce could have some revolving loan funds available from a variety of local resources. Contact them to see what they might have available for the specific purpose you have in mind. Provided by NACS
15. If you have a "cool" name for your store, you can sell merchandise with your name on it and people will buy it. The right name can turn into an unexpected revenue stream. Provided by NACS

Store Supplies

1. Instead of installing an expensive vent hood, look into more affordable ventless cooking equipment. Provided by NACS
2. If 90% of a category's sales come from just 10% of the SKUs, then think carefully before adding new items to the category. Provided by NACS

Foodservice

1. A Mexican restaurant might purchase just 10 ingredients, but it can come up with a multitude of menu items. You too, can run a good foodservice program with few, well thought out ingredients. Provided by NACS
2. Limit your food program to about 12 exceptional, proprietary products that you can "own" as your brand and execute consistently. Provided by NACS
3. Place secondary salty snacks placements on the back endcap of center-store aisles, adjacent to the cooler. Consumers typically walk first to the cold vault for their packaged beverage selection and then turn around to make other purchases. Provided by NACS
4. Salty snacks are highly correlated with prepared foods, beer and packaged beverages, so there's an opportunity to drive basket size via enhanced cross-merchandising of these categories. Provided by NACS

Beverages

1. The vast assortment of packaged beverages provides a clear advantage to c-stores over quick-service restaurants, so bundle packaged beverages with food options to drive margins. Provided by NACS
2. If you use cheap coffee in your coffee program, customers will only drink it once. Investing in quality coffee and keeping it fresh in airpots (not open glass pots) can create loyal coffee customers. Provided by NACS
3. According to experienced retailers, the best place to sell wine is on the border of a well-populated but dry county. Provided by NACS
4. To keep the coffee category fresh, retailers should offer gourmet and specialty coffees. Specialty coffee sales have been advancing by about 20% annually, accounting for nearly 8% of the $18 billion U.S. coffee market. Provided by NACS
5. C-stores should promote sales of craft brew singles, since it's such an impulse purchase. Make it attractive for consumers to buy a 22-ounce craft brew with their usual 12-pack of domestic beer. Provided by NACS

Marketing

1. Matching product selection with store demographics and paying attention to seasonal opportunities are two ways a pay-as-you-go product line can produce sales. Provided by NACS
2. If your average customer spends $50 a month, that's about $3,000 they invested in your company over 5 years. Thank them with a customer appreciation day. Provided by NACS
3. Complementary purchases will drive a bigger dollar ring:
• Increase dollar ring by focusing on complementary merchandising of single serve snacks. For example, many consumers will purchase a beverage and snack together.
• Focus secondary merchandising locations on categories that consumers shop most often and are impulse driven (candy, salty snacks, gum).
4. Influencing complementary purchasing is a key to expanding transaction sizes
• Expand market basket size by focusing on complementary merchandising of single serve snacks. Focus on categories that have high penetration, frequency, and impulse (candy, salty snacks, gum).
• HOT secondary merchandising locations are Food Service, checkout, and Refrigerated Beverage Coolers.
5. Using loss leaders as a marketing tool can also help gain new customers and increase return visits. Implemented correctly, loss leaders have been proven to be a profitable pricing strategy.
6. Stay current and stay true. Don't think you know it all when it comes to trends. Keep up with local as well as national trends. Know your market. Will it sell in your store? The best thing to do is listen to your customers. Customers will always let you know what they're looking for, but only if you ask.
7. Choose your marketing techniques wisely. Keep track of which marketing venues bring you the most business. Reduce or eliminate those marketing techniques that aren't paying off.
8. While there is some dispute about what constitutes the best shelf location for product, from a vertical standpoint, "eye level is the buy level." Provided by NACS
9. Seeing, smelling, or sampling an item in your store can create an impulse purchase, a major factor in a number of strong convenience store categories. Provided by NACS

Candy

1. In the candy category, king size generates more dollars per slot than singles and has the fastest growth % in C-Stores. Increase your dollar ring by helping consumers trade up to a value sized offering like King Size candy bars, larger size fountain drinks and salty snacks. Display a wide selection of King Size items on shelf as well as at the register. Call out the value of the larger size.

Management

1. Treat each customer as your best customer. As a small store owner, you can concentrate on small details. Superb customer service is the biggest intangible asset to the independent business. People like to shop where they feel comfortable and where they feel the owner truly cares about their wants and needs. It is the least expensive change to make in order to take on the larger chain stores.
2. Loss prevention - You can always expect theft — count on it and set your prices because of it. The only way to find out how much you're losing is to do inventory. A POS [point-of-service] system that's run from a PC with real-time inventory is very helpful. It doesn't have to be refreshed and can tell you right then what you have on hand. Keep your employees honest with cameras. If you're selling any small items that people are going to walk off with, keep them in secure cases.
3. Most service calls to your store trigger a minimum one-hour charge, but the work needing done might take less time. Be prepared with other tasks to keep the technician busy for the entire hour. Provided by NACS
4. Make eye contact with everyone who enters the store. By establishing eye contact, an employee can prevent a possible theft. Provided by NACS
5. Even $20 in singles looks like a big wad of cash. Managers should keep money below the counter when transferring from the register to the safe. Provided by NACS