Do Canned Sardines Have An Expiration Date?

Boy, I sure hope so, because the c-store down the street from me still has the same 12 cans on its shelves it had when I moved into the area 10 years ago! Let’s help this guy out.

Do you have any cans of sardines in your store? How about other slow moving products? You know you do, but what are you doing about it?

Does the 80/20 rule prevail in your store? This rule occurs when 20% of the inventory accounts for 80% of your gross profit. Do you know your percentage?

The 80/20 rule is conventional wisdom for everything from sales to management to finding a mate online; but Pareto's Principle was never meant to be linear. And it certainly should not be our goal. We can do better and we can do it right. With fuel heading to four bucks a gallon, we have to.

What if you could improve your chances by just 1%? Would that make a difference in your cash flow? With an inventory of $80,000 in a typical c-store, you bet it can!

It’s not hard to get the ball rolling. Here are two steps to get you started:
1. Print out a list of all of your store’s 50 slowest moving items. (For an example of a Bottom 50 Moving report, click here)
2. Print out a list of your top 50 selling items. (For an example of a Top 50 Moving report, click here)

Now here’s the fun part. Take those 50 items and clear them off your shelves. (Yeah I know, lots of dust bunnies, right?) OK, clean off those shelves and let’s move in some top selling items.
Now do this every week for the next month and you will get rid of at least 1% of the dust collecting items in your c-stores. Start today and by Memorial Day weekend you will have items on your shelves that customers actually purchase!

Don’t know how to tell what your bottom 50 and top 50 are? We can help. Give me a call or check our website, www.cmisolutions.com.

Now…what do you do about the can of sardines when they have expired? Put them on a display and sell them as bait. Deep sea fishermen, who can use the old sardines to catch bottom dwelling fish, love ‘em!