Many who start a dollar store never stop to examine the dollar store profits they make on their dollar store merchandise until well after they are in business. Their store layout is based on what they or someone else perceive as the best for their circumstances. Yet in today’s competitive retail environment this may not be the right approach to maximize profits. Since profit is the number one motive for most business owners to start and operate their business, why not focus on profits as you prepare your store layout? If you are already in business, consider making tweaks in merchandise location to help grow sales of the highest profit items in your store. Just the one simple action of focusing merchandising on the popular, highly profitable merchandise in your store can have a huge impact on your business profits.
Start by evaluating the profitability of the merchandise carried in your store. Focus on the standard items you carry as a mainstay of your business. Examine the cost of goods for each item to determine where your greatest profits are generated. This will take some time and effort, but every good manager wants to know the cost of goods sold in their store.
You should work and rework your store layout to place the everyday items offering the highest profits right out where they will be seen. Place high profit departments like greeting cards and party goods in the line of travel immediately after customers enter your store. But there is more. In addition to prominently placing your highest profit items in their department, use end caps, bulk lobby displays, and proper signage to highlight them. Take the little steps to make shoppers aware these items are in your store.
Add hot selling, higher profit margin merchandise to your best selling impulse merchandise locations. This is another step that yields higher profits for your business. While not all merchandise fits this plan, rotating high profit margin items into impulse locations like around cash registers and in your store lobby adds variety to your store while generating extra sales and profits.
Don’t cut down on the consumables and other popular dollar store merchandise as a part of this strategy when you start a dollar store. Items used everyday may not provide high dollar store profits, but they do create traffic for your business. These are the items that people need and will come into your store time and again to purchase. Even though profit margins are tight, they must be in-stock to bring shoppers back more frequently.
To your success when you start a dollar store!