View by Category

All Categories

Trade Shows

Retailer's Blog | International Wholesale

Frequently Asked Questions - Answered

International Wholesale Blogs

Wholesale Dollar Items

Wholesale Distributors

Dollar Stores

Supermarkets

Home Smart Products

Dollar Product Programs: How to Add a Dollar Item Section for Your Retail Store

September 13th, 2017 at 9:08 am star

Dollar Product Programs: How to Add a Dollar Item Section for Your Retail Store

More and more people are buying from dollar stores, pure and simple. In fact, for the past few years, the data has clearly shown how dollar stores have seen explosive growth not just from the low-income segment, but even among well to-do millennials, who are buying more and more of their groceries from dollar stores.

Instead of seeing your customers leave to buy from dollar stores competing with your own product line of essentials, you can use this to your advantage by adding a dollar item section to your own store. This way, you can keep your customers, increase upselling, boost foot traffic, and most importantly, increase sales. In this article, we show you how to do exactly that!

Why are Consumers Spending More and More at Dollar Stores?

Consumer spending is changing. When it comes to essentials, people are spending differently. Those from the lower income brackets have an obvious essential need to minimize cost, while those from higher income brackets would rather minimize their expenses for essentials and spend that extra money on other things.

Basically, people are shopping smarter, and the age of consumers paying extra for ‘brand' items just isn't true for essentials anymore.

Dollar stores are offering more. Over the past decade, dollar stores have significantly increased their product line to focus on offering all the essentials a household needs. With over 75% of their inventory being made up of everyday necessities, dollar stores have made it convenient for consumers to stop in and ‘fill up' with frequent shopping trips.

Dollar Product Sections – Why Supermarkets, Convenience Stores, and Any Retailer Must Have One!

Instead of seeing your customers flock to buy their groceries from dollar stores, you can compete with them by having your own dollar product program or section. It's common sense. Your customers are spending more of their money at dollar and dollar-plus stores, so why not offer a dollar product program for your own customers?

Here are some key reasons to add a dollar item section for your store:

This is what consumers want! As the research giant GlobalData Retail shows, dollar store sales have had a whopping 50% growth rate between 2010 and 2015, compared to just 17% growth during the same period for the retail industry as a whole.

More data like this has been rolling in for the past 3 years and it clearly shows, without any doubt, that consumers are spending more and more on dollar items for their essentials.

To avoid losing sales. As large supermarket centers have learned the hard way, if you provide essentials like household goods as a part of your product line, you will lose out if you're not offering alternatives to brand name products.

When it comes to essentials, consumers are spending less on brand names, and more on discount items. If you don't offer discount alternatives, you will be losing out on significant sales opportunities.

It's simple to add a dollar item section. Adding a dollar product program section to your store has never been easier. Because of increased demand for dollar product programs among our own clients (retail store owners like you), we now offer several dollar product programs and planograms that make a great addition to any supermarket, convenience store, gas station, independent pharmacy, or retailer.

Dollar Product Program - Add a Dollar Item Section to Your Store Today!

International Wholesale offers several dollar product program sections for your store. Specifically, we supply the actual dollar item products at wholesale rates. And we also offer the planogram allowing you to organize your dollar item section in the most effective manner possible.

Our dollar product program sections include several categories such as:

✔ General Household Goods. We offer a dollar item section – a ready-to-buy planogram with products – for general household goods that include disposable products such as garbage bags, foam plates, aluminum foil, plastic cups, and more.

✔ Household Cleaning Products. In addition to adding a dollar item section for general household goods, you can also add a dollar item section for household cleaners like detergent, dishwashing soap, trigger cleaners, and other cleaning product essentials.

✔ Personal Care, Health, and Beauty Products. We also offer a ready-to-buy planogram with dollar items that contains high demand personal care products such as razors, handsoap, tooth brushes, razors, and more.

By offering these ready-to-buy-and-display dollar item products, we make it as easy as possible for you to add a dollar item section to your store.

Adding a Dollar Product Section to Your Store has Never Been Easier:

Visit our Dollar Product Program Page to Get Going!

Share This Article:

Author: Abe Assi

International Wholesale

2017-09-13

Posted in Frequently Asked Questions - Answered, Wholesale Dollar Items, Dollar Stores, Supermarkets, Retailer's Blog | International Wholesale by
Views: 4602

Add Your Comment

Back to School Retail: 2017 Trends & Tips

August 25th, 2017 at 1:37 pm star

Back to School Retail: 2017 Trends & Tips

The back to school season always offers retailers an opportunity to increase sales and promote their product lines. In fact, the back-to-school season is the one of the most profitable shopping season of the year, second only to the holiday shopping season. So what are some trends your store should capitalize on and how can you increase sales during this back-to-school season? Read on to find out!

Some Back-to-School Retail Trends

Shoppers Spending More and Over a Longer Duration

Today's shoppers are spending more & more on back-to-school items. In fact, the National Retail Foundation (NRF) found that total back-to-school spending has grown over 55% during the past decade, and this year, back-to-school household spending looks to surpass a whopping $78 billion.

Customers are also shopping smarter. According to a USA Today article, back-to-school shopping sprees are a thing of the past. Families are actually spending more on back-to-school items for their children, but they're doing so over a longer period of time since they're constantly on the prowl for the best deals.

What does this mean for you? This means repeat business and additional spending for your retail store if you know how to take advantage of shopper tendencies.

The Back-to-School Season is now Longer than Ever

With so many different schools conducting classes based on different semester types, along with record high percentages of family members attending school, the back-to-school shopping season is longer than it's ever been before.

This means you have lots of time to tailor your marketing to important, yet diverse, audiences. Everyone from parents with young kids to college and university students will be searching for ways to save.

Parent & Student Shopping Lists are Changing in 2017

According to a comprehensive Deloitte survey (conducted over the course of ten years), 55% of parent & student spending this year will account for clothing and school accessories (up from 45% in 2016). On the other hand, this same segment plans to spend less than last year on computers & electronics (only 14% of total back-to-school spending budgets).

This means you should know what to stock up on and always make sure you have plenty of school accessories and clothing items (e.g. socks) available for your customers.

Shoppers Still Demand In-Store Items Over Online Stores

According to the same Deloitte survey, About 70% of shoppers this year plan to shop in-store and only 22% plan to shop online (the rest are undecided). This is about the same as last year. So although online retail is increasing as an overall trend, this hasn't really applied to brick-and-mortal retail stores for the back-to-school season.

Back-to-School Retail Tips to Increase Sales

Retail Tip #1: Know Your Audience

This involves some research and awareness. Know what your local schools are requiring students to bring. Here, you can ask friends & family for advice. You can also review past back-to-school reports from your POS to optimize your inventory accordingly.

As this year's research shows, most shoppers are looking to spend on clothing and school accessories (about 60%), but the specifics will certainly differ from market to market.

Retail Tip #2: Deliver the Basics

There are some basic school supplies you should always be offering. These include things like notebooks, calculators, pens, pencils, backpacks, socks, jeans, and more.

To offer these items at a promotion will also help build foot traffic into your store. Work with your wholesale school products supplier to see what deals and brands they're offering to make sure you have a full line of basic school supplies, and to do so at an attractive rate and profit margin.

Retail Tip #3: Assign a Back-to-School Space inside Your Store

For repeat customers and those that are shopping in your store, make sure it's as easy as possible for them to notice your store's Back-To-School section. This means you should have bold and exciting signage that distinguishes your BTS section in a positive way.

Also make sure that your back-to-school products are organized accordingly, easy to notice, and labeled in the appropriate manner. Here, you can design your own planogram to optimize the display of your items, or talk to your primary school items supplier for potential ideas.

Make sure to read our blog article on increasing retail sales for more comprehensive tips about signage and planograms.

Retail Tip #4: Get Creative with Your Promotions

There are several ways to get creative and maximize sales volume. First off, using ‘Mix & Match' promotions are a good way to satisfy shopper demand and increase sales. You can also bundle popular items with each other and offer discounts on premium products required by schools (e.g. graphing calculators). In addition, if you have a customer loyalty program, make sure you apply back-to-school incentives to it.

When you decide on your promotions, always make sure that you communicate your promotions as effectively as possible, whether this is good signage & display, online advertising, social media, or a combination of these tactics.

Retail Tip #5: Leverage Social Media

Using social media for business promotion sounds obvious but knowing how to optimize your social media channel is a skill that many lack. The important thing here is to focus on two particular segments, the younger generation (Gen Z), and parents older than 35. So try to divide your social media activities to 2 particular areas based on these segments.

For the younger generation (30 and younger), you can use Instagram and Snapchat since these platforms are dominated by this particular demographic. Here, try to create fun posts that are both informative and entertaining.

On the other hand, since over 73% of U.S.-based parents older than 35 on Facebook (yes, a huge percentage!), use that platform to tailor your message to them. Here, you can use the highly effective Facebook Ads Platform to refine your targeting to the exact location and people you want. You can also utilize appropriate Facebook business pages and join buy/sell groups in your local area to increase your store's exposure.

Conclusion

This year's back-to-school season will offer great opportunity to increase sales & revenue for your retail store. Research trends for the 2^nd biggest shopping season of the year point to continued in-store traffic and smart shopping leaning on maximum savings, which bodes well for dollar/dollar plus stores, convenience stores, independent retail shops, and other retail sectors that focus on discount items.

To maximize your sales revenue this back-to-school season, make sure you know your audience, are offering the basics, create a visually appealing BTS section, get creative with your promotions, and leverage social media to your full advantage.

To make the most of this back-to-school season, keep well stocked and maximize your profit margin by exploring our new line of eye-catching dollar school supplies for your store!

Author: Abe Assi

International Wholesale

2017-08-25

Share This Article:

Posted in International Wholesale Blogs, Wholesale Distributors , Dollar Stores, Supermarkets, Home Smart Products, Retailer's Blog | International Wholesale by
Views: 3802

Add Your Comment

How to Increase Retail Sales: Marketing & Sales Tips

August 1st, 2017 at 10:17 am star

How to Increase Retail Sales | International Wholesale Blog

HOW TO INCREASE RETAIL SALES: MARKETING & SALES TIPS

To help consistently increase retail sales for your dollar or convenience store, we've created our “Sales & Marketing Tips” Blog series that brings you specialized knowledge from the dollar and convenience store industry. Specifically, this article talks about four strategies to improve your stores' sales figures.

Feel free to post a comment on the article below and don't hesitate to give feedback on the article in the comments section below, to make suggestions on topics you'd like us to write about, and to ask us any questions!

Increase Retail Sales with Promotions & Markdowns

One way to increase retail sales for your dollar or convenience store is through well-planned promotional offers which can help bring in new customers and retain current ones. When done right, you can significantly boost sales with the right offer at the right time. Also, don't think that offers and promotions are only for holidays. You can create your own store/brand-specific promotional event that appeal to your particular customers and their situations.

Choosing your event

The first crucial step is deciding on a promotion that appeals to your particular customers. What attracts them? What goes through their minds while they're shopping in your store? What are their general interests? Many customers simply want to save as much money as possible. In this case, sales or markdown events would work well. If mothers make up a good portion of your customers, then think about creating a special promotion just for them (e.g. Discount on all household cleaning products – discount on all baby products for new moms, etc.) The key is choosing an event that appeals to your customers.

Planning your promotional events

Creating a promotional calendar is definitely worth the effort, and you should also make sure you mix and match holiday events with your own particular customer-based promotions (don't let holidays run your schedule!). It's also important to space out your promotions since too many events close together would minimize their effectiveness. Nonetheless, planning your events a few months in advance will certainly make your life easier and make your promotions more effective.

Promoting your promotions!

After you create your promotional calendar, you can then focus on promoting each event as it approaches. This is where good marketing comes in. Make sure you have the appropriate in-store signage informing your customers of the event before it happens. Also, let all your customers know through your social media, email marketing, and website channels. Make sure that all creatives like posters, signs, and digital banners are effectively designed. And, finally, make sure to record your results so you can learn about what works and what you can improve upon!

Increase Retail Sales with Good Store Signage

Communicating with your customers through effective in-store signage will have a notable effect on increasing retail sales for your store.

Tips for your store signage

- Keep your signs specific. Any vague descriptions may force you to sell items for much lower than anticipated!

- Keep your signs clean & well-maintained. Dirty signs will ruin brand perception among your customers.

- Keep your signs short & sweet. Simplicity is key!

- Make your signs “pop out” using bold colors and clear color contrasts.

Getting your signs

Even though some stores print or write their signs by hand, it's better to use a professional printer or graphic design/printing store. This makes your signs look more professional and minimize potential mistakes.

Also, many of your vendors/suppliers may already give you countless promotional items so the next time you're offered a promotional display or item, make sure you take it! Even if you don't use it later on, you can use the display for your own particular needs.

Types of signage

You can promote your promotions & markdowns with many types of signage. Hanging ceiling signs can draw attention to customers walking through your store. Large window signs can attract customers parking or driving by. Even better, your light poles and fences offer prime real estate for larger, more attention-drawing signs, helping draw the eyes of customers and potential customers driving or walking by.

Increase Retail Sales with Planograms – The Key to Effective Display Advertising

What is a planogram?

A planogram is not just a visual diagram, but also a unique product mix aimed at offering the optimal set of products & product placement for both customer convenience and maximum sales. Planograms play a vital part in display advertising and can be as simple as an image of a planned section of products (showing each product's place on the shelf), or as comprehensive as shelf carvings showing the exact spot of each product. A planogram would also come with the actual products diagrammed in the planogram itself.

A good planogram makes it as fast and simple as possible for your customers to find what they're looking for (which increases sales).

Benefits of a planogram

Besides maximizing sales and offering convenience for your customers (ensuring certain products are found besides each other), here are some other benefits of planograms:

- Making efficient use for every square-foot of your store

- Attracting customers with much-improved visual appeal

- Increasing inventory control and decreasing out-of-stocks

- Simplifying the product replenishment process for your staff

Getting planograms

Although you can create your own planograms through a word document, paper & pen, or Excel spreadsheet, your suppliers may already offer planograms in their product lineup to help you display their products and create the optimal product mix for your customers.

As part of our own product offering, here are three hot-selling planograms to help you maximize your sales and make things easier for you and your customers:

-> Clean Home Planogram: Wholesale cleaning products with planogram

-> Home Smart Planogram: Wholesale household products with planogram

-> Smart Value Planogram: Wholesale hardware & other household products with planogram

Find Ways to Increase Profit Margins

Especially for dollar stores, small retail shops, and other convenience-type stores, profit margins can stay really low. Here are some quick tips to maximize your profit margins:

Automate as much as possible. The faster your turnaround time (from order to delivery), the lower your cost-of-overhead per unit which leads to better profit margins. Speed up the process as much as possible for your customers. This means fast Point-of-Sales systems. Secondly, try to implement automatic inventory replenishment which can significantly cut costs and save time. Automate anything and everything in your business which will always have a direct impact on your profit margins.

Upsell & Cross-sell like crazy. When you do this, profit margin increases in two ways since you'll be reducing turnaround time (which lowers overhead cost-per-unit) and increasing your average sale-per-unit. To do this, you can offer bundled products, larger units of purchase, and cross sell complimentary products or services. You can discover strategies by researching benchmark companies in your industry to find out what they're doing with their own product offerings to up sell and cross-sell.

Always be on the lookout to increase your product offering. No matter how long you've been in business, you should always look to offer a more diverse product line for your customers. This will open up new opportunities for your store and prevent your customers from shopping elsewhere to get products they can't find in your shop. If you haven't already done so, create your free account with International Wholesale to browse over 20,000 products within hundreds of product categories.

Our product categories include:

- Wholesale Dollar Items

- Wholesale Cleaning Products

- Wholesale Disposable Products

- Wholesale Food Products (Snack & Beverage)

- Wholesale General Merchandise

- Wholesale Hardware Products

- Wholesale Health & Beauty

- Wholesale Kitchen & Housewares

- Wholesale School & Office Supplies

Finally, don't forget to be on the lookout for our monthly specials that we send to your inbox every month. These will give you exclusive & direct access to wholesale specials and closeouts without you having to specifically search for them on our site.

Create your free account to subscribe to our blog (we never spam!) and receive our exclusive monthly specials so you can maximize your savings & sales!

Share This Article:

Posted in International Wholesale Blogs, Wholesale Distributors , Dollar Stores, Supermarkets, Retailer's Blog | International Wholesale by
Views: 5300

Add Your Comment

New Product!!! Home Smart Laundry Detergent Powders

January 31st, 2014 at 12:03 pm star

Posted in International Wholesale Blogs, Wholesale Dollar Items, Wholesale Distributors , Dollar Stores, Supermarkets by International Wholesale Blog
Views: 7390