Increase the Success of Your Point of Purchase Displays

Point of purchase displays are often your best salesperson, therefore, you should optimize your POP Displays for maximum exposure and consumer benefits.  Always keep in mind that shoppers will only see your display for a few short seconds before deciding whether or not to buy.  So use short messages that can be read from a short distance very quickly.

Foster relationships with retailers and gain valuable insight into how your display is perceived and tips on improving your chances to make a sale.  And, use these tips to help you sell more of your products, more quickly and win you more satisfied customers:

1. Include a “call to action” – Tell shoppers exactly what you want them to do.  Whenever possible, insert some urgency with an expiration date for gaining the most possible benefit from your products.
2. Make your message readable and understandable at a glance – Use digital printing with big, bold messages so shoppers can understand them at a glance
3. Link the display with other in-store advertising or your brand’s broader marketing campaign – When possible, piggyback your promotions for reinforcement.  The more shoppers see your message, the more likely they are to make a purchase.
4. Work with retail staff on how to assemble and where to place your display – If you can make the time, speak with retail staff personally and get their ideas on best placement.
5. The retailer also must know whether you have an exclusive offering tied into your display – Is there an exclusive bonus offer tied to your display?  If so, let staff know so they can point it out and answer questions if they arise.
6. Give the retailer incentive to sell your deal to customers – Provide retailers with incentives and your products are sure to get a little extra attention.  This doesn’t always have to include money; use your imagination.
7. All elements of the display, including the packages, should be durable enough to survive the life of the promotion – Have you thought about how your display may look after a couple of weeks on the shelf?  Make sure you’re using quality products.
8. Determine how all items in the display can be most cost-effectively distributed to stores – Depending on your service area, it may be more convenient or cost-effective for you to deliver product personally.  Other times, mail is more appropriate.
9. Ensure that the results from your P-O-P effort can be effectively monitored and measured – Don’t just track unit sales.  Track best sales times, shopper demographics and which stores are selling more than others.
10. Are the components of your display easily and efficiently recycled? – Shoppers are more and more likely to purchase products packaged in recycled or recyclable materials.  Be sure to highlight the fact that yours are.

Convenience Store Security Tips

The National Association of Convenience Stores maintains these stores are safe, with as many as 80 percent reporting no crime annually. However, law enforcement organizations identify these businesses as "problem-oriented" and strive to improve their safety with convenience store security tips.

Function

The Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, a nonprofit police-affiliated organization, offers convenience store security tips. Their advice, based on research, identifies factors determining criminal activity at a convenience store.

Unfortunately, the aspect making these stores so convenient--operating hours--is also the No. 1 contributor to robbery. Over half of all C-store robberies occur between 10 p.m. and 12 a.m. and on the weekends. Increasing staff, and even police presence, during these hours can deter criminals.

Features

Other factors strongly influence robbery. The store's interior and exterior layout can aid or prevent crime. Visibility is a key word. People should be able to easily see in and out of a store with check-out stations in clear sight from the street. Bright lighting inside and outside also wards off crime as does location. Stores in a commercial setting are robbed less than those in residential neighborhoods.

Another valuable tool is video surveillance. The National Association of Convenience Stores reports 53 percent less robberies in stores under video surveillance.
   

Types

Often the type of convenience store plays a part in security. Larger, franchised stores generally have more funds available for security measures than smaller "mom and pop shops." In addition, stores with gas pumps report less robbery due to increased activity. Large stores have proven policies and extensive employee training limiting their victimization. Massive operations like 7-Eleven stores, one of the founders of the convenience store, even commission their own studies about crime prevention.

Prevention/Solution

Though thieves will steal cigarettes and alcohol, cash is their preferred treasure. Althena Research Corporation reports 80 percent of robberies are prevented by limiting cash in the registers. Retailers should advertise this fact, as well as the presence of video surveillance, by posting signs. Convenience store security tips involve making the store unpopular with criminals.

Warning

Even with measures in place, retailers cannot always avoid crime. Criminals, especially those involved in drug activities, are impulsive and in need of quick cash. In desperation, a criminal can target any location.

Law enforcement agencies discourage employees from trying to prevent a crime in process. Employees are advised to remain calm, quiet and complaisant. Basically, do what the criminal says but keep mental details of the assailant.

Customers as well are asked not to get involved. Though bystanders are shown by the media as helpful, the result in most cases is injury or death.
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Resources

Center for Problem-Oriented Policy on C-Store Security

9 Business Facts All Restaurant Staff Should Know

Does your staff know how your restaurant business actually works?

They probably weren't taught this at school or in their last job. Without guidance, they'll make up their own reasons to explain your insistence on efficiency or extra sales effort...and they may not get it right.

Regular briefing on business fundamentals can grow them into real "business partners" - there are huge benefits if you take the time.

Start with these:

Profit = Sales minus Expenses. If expenses are higher than sales, we can only stay open as long as someone finds extra cash to make up the difference. If it runs out, the business will close.

There are 2 types of Expense: Fixed and Variable. The ingredients for making a pizza or cocktail are variable costs - mostly raw materials and labor. Rent and insurance are examples of fixed costs. The profit made on the pizza or cocktail first have to pay for the Fixed Costs.

Food and Liquor Stock is just like Cash. Most businesses keep a week's supply of food in stock, and several weeks of liquor. More than this and the boss should be getting worried - it's easy to be overstocked.

Boosting Sales is usually more profitable than Cutting Costs. But most people find it easier to cut rather than grow, so it needs smart leadership to handle them both. When you find someone who loves to sell, look after them!

There are only 100 cents in a Dollar. Take 100 coins and ask staff to divide them up for rent, wages and all the other business expenses. What did they get wrong - any surprises?

Staff is usually the biggest expense in hospitality. That's why the boss watches the roster closely, and why productivity is so important. And why wage rises are a challenge, unless there's a matching rise in productivity.

Extras or 'On-costs' add 30% or more to the total cost of staff. Examples are workers compensation, leave, uniforms, training and staff meals. For every $100 per week you're paid, add at least another $30.

New equipment is paid for by profits. There's nowhere else to get the money, unless we borrow it (then it has to be repaid). The best equipment has a fast 'return on investment' - it pays for itself quickly by saving labor and ingredients, or creating more sales.

The cost of small items can be surprisingly high. Work out the exact cost of a strawberry, an olive, a scroop of ground coffee, a teaspoon or a napkin. How many are lost or wasted each week?