By Bill Scott Yesterday, I stopped to buy diesel at a store that is located right off the interstate, along the path that I frequently travel from my home out in the country to the metropolitan area of Jackson, Miss. I have been buying fuel there for over 10 years. The owner is not a…
Part 3 of Category & Inventory Management
Part 3 By Bill Scott ALL OF THE calculations in Parts 1 and 2 of this article are child’s play for any computer, but there is great value in understanding the process, because there are quite a few factors that will bend the results according to your specific environment. Every inert object has a common…
Loyalty Is Both Rare And Precious
By Bill Scott I have retold this true story a thousand times over the years, but maybe you haven’t heard it and will find it amusing. Back in the 80s, one morning at around 3am, while I was installing a computer in a customer’s office, (the company’s controller by my side), a call came through…
Part Two of Category Management & Inventory Management
By Bill Scott Part 2 Category Management is an important tool that should be included in every retailer’s tool kit, but it’s not the ONLY tool. Over 11 years ago, when I purchased my current home, I had been living in an apartment for a decade, and most of my tools had been permanently loaned…
Will Item-Level Inventory Control Replace Category Management?
By Bill Scott, PART 1 The short answer is ‘No’. Category Management is a tool that has a purpose, especially for smaller companies that do not have the inclination, the option, nor the software to dig deeper into their businesses. However, Category Management is a tool to help retailers establish the general product mix on…
January/February 2017 Results Are In
By Bill Scott Tobacco products rallied in the list of greatest improvements in sales in February 2017. Black & Mild cigars always perform well in our sample of convenience stores, and B & M 070137809326 wins this month best overall performance, showing a 27 position gain–up to position in 24 in the Top 100. Following…
National Beer Day Is Tale of Sales
Beer continues to wet the whistles of American consumers. As adults across the country raise a glass of their favorite malt beverage to celebrate, total retail sales and other figures are something else to celebrate, according to recent Nielsen data including: Retail beer sales totaled more than $34 billion in the last year. Beer, cider…
The Report
By Bill Scott There is an old parlor game where seven or eight people sit in a circle, and it begins when one person whispers a ‘secret’ into the ear of the person to their right, and that person whispers it to the person to their right, and so on and so forth. When the…
In Order To Win, Sometimes You Just Have To Start Something
Buc-ee’s thinks outside the box. By Bill Scott I sort of remember Buc-ee’s from the early 80s when I visited with my family in Lake Jackson, Texas. Lake Jackson is a lazy little town that has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past 40 years or so. The story of Buc-ee’s is more…
November-December 2016 Comparisons
By Bill Scott The November-December 2016 sales comparisons are in and the products tied for the largest gain in sales for December 2016 were FANTA PINEAPPLE (20-ounce) and COBRA (32-ounce), both entering the Top 100 with a gain of 27 positions each. Following close behind, COKE CLASSIC (two liter), and LITTLE DEBBIE MINI CHOCOLATE DONUTS…