There's A New Sheriff In Town

No, no, no…I am not talking about John McCain who invoked that self image in last Friday’s debate.

I’m talking about our beloved c-store heroine - beleaguered c-store manager, Darlene. As you recall from last week, Darlene got busted for overstocking Pepsi products in her store. However, unlike our politicians, she actually has a plan that doesn’t involve a bailout.

This week Darlene is armed with hand-held a scanner to verify costs and a “Recommended Purchase Order Report” print out. She is waiting behind a stack of Diet Mountain Dew for Jack, the Pepsi stud. She already told Jack to be at her store between the hours of 9AM and 11AM so she could properly receive their order without interruption. The Sheriff is in town and taking names.

Darlene’s 3-step approach to taking control of her inventory:

1. With the RPO report, Darlene knows how many units of Pepsi products she sold historically and she knows what her “re-order” value is for each SKU. She has already completed the order form to hand to the driver based upon the data calculated on the report.
2. The vendor will be checked-in on Darlene’s timetable not during her busy time.
3. Armed with a hand-held scanner, she will check-in the vendor and her software will verify the cost of each item entering her store and whether or not the product has been approved for her location.

In less than 15 minutes Darlene has checked-in her vendor and is back to her customers.

Darlene may not be able to promise universal health care and she probably can’t see Russia from her back porch, but she has improved her inventory-turn ratio and preserved her job and that of her fellow store workers.

Want to find out more about improving your Retail PriceBook Management? Visit us in person at Booth #6940 during this weekend's NACSSHOW!

Your C-Store vs Their Warehouse

Do you ever feel like your store is really just a warehouse for the DSD vendors and your main grocery wholesaler?

As we get closer to the annual NACS trade show you will see a convention floor full of new and old products to fill up your store. There will be new cigarettes, new candy, new snacks, and what would the show be without the trade-show booth babes pimping yet another new line of energy drinks?

The enticement to place orders on the next "can’t miss" product will be in your face for three days and your merchandising manager will want to buy it all. Your accountant will want to buy none of it. Somewhere in-between will be the right answer: having enough merchandise and, more importantly, the right product mix to meet the needs of your customers, while not having so much that you morph into a warehouse of unsellable goods.

Before you sign on to any product, try to determine how rapidly the product will sell (or turn). If you get a delivery every week, you do not need a 6-week supply on the shelf. However, that is consistently what we see in more than 70% of the stores who have not fully automated.

Let’s break this down. Jack the Pepsi guy comes in every Wednesday at 11:30AM. He knows that is Darlene’s shift and it is near the busy lunch hour, so she will be distracted. Jack has a tee time at 1:30PM. If he can clear out his truck, he can get in 18 holes and be home before dinner. Darlene’s store sells about 15 2-liter Diet Pepsi’s a week, but Darlene accepts delivery of 100 2-liter Pepsi bottles because:

a.) She has a high ceiling in the store and can stack them twelve feet high?
b.) She listens to the Pepsi delivery guy who will kick in 5-cranberry chocolate flavored Pepsi’s that she will never sell for a 10-cent discount?
c.) She wants the stack twice the height of the Jeff Gordon life sized cardboard cutout?
d.) All of the above.

Take your pick. The answer is troubling but you know it is true, don’t you? However, that is how inventory grows in a typical c-store if the order is not placed with an inventory-turn ratio in mind.

A centralized pricebook system can help you monitor store inventory turns and allow you to set the proper expectations. Now is the good time to get started. Do not let your inventory turn every six weeks if you have a weekly delivery!

CMI will be at NACS booth #6940. We won’t have scantily-clad booth babes, cold pizza, or warm energy drinks. However, we do promise a chair for you to rest your legs and experts on hand to discuss our reliable accounting, pricebook, and jobber wholesale software system that will help you maintain proper inventory levels, increase cash flow, and coordinate both your merchandising needs with those of responsible management.

See you in Chicago!