How Inventory Management Software Can Improve Your Business

According to the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), convenience stores on average serve around 1,100 customers daily – 300 at the gas pump, and another 800 inside the store buying products ranging from snacks and drinks to household cleaning products to lottery tickets. In order to remain “convenient,” stores must rely on nimble product rotation and flexible point of sale marketing in order to capitalize on impulse buying habits of customers while they are in the store. Inventory Management Software can help you improve efficiency that leads to higher sales and overall growth. 

As an operator, an inventory management software system is the the best tool you can use to keep track of the necessary diverse product mixes a convenience store needs to maintain to meet the needs of customers and determine what items to allow on very limited shelving space and what items to phase out, thus maximizing the profitability throughout your store and eliminating waste. Let’s consider the Nielsen Company report on the growth of protein-based sales in 2017 to make the case for how inventory management software solutions helped the industry support an increase in the meat snack product segment of 3.5% over previous year performance in 2017.

Protein Segment Supports Growth

Convenience stores must remain highly data-driven, mixing demographic research of national trends in target audience behaviors in order to manage store-level inventory. Inventory management software can give owners the ability to make informed decisions by tracking products at a broad categorical level as well as at a micro level by SKU.

Through aggregated data captured by such software, combined with demographic data, Nielsen reported that Millenials increased their spending in the full-channel meat snacks, due to the cohorts specific dining behavior prioritizing healthy snacking throughout the day versus dedicated meal times adhered to by other demographic groups, while baby boomers were the largest spenders in the channel overall.

As the meat snack industry itself latched onto the behavior of consumer segments, and diversified product options across the channel, convenience store inventory management software allowed operators to leverage supplies to meet product demand by tracking SKU-level sales performance and prioritizing the ordering of certain high-performing SKUS in each market. This responsiveness led to even further diversity as both producers and retailers honed in on consumer demands for diverse lean protein snack alternatives such as bison, wild boar, and venison – a segment consumers spent nearly $4 million on in 2017.

Data-Driven Inventory Management Supports Sales

Automating your inventory management processes, including counts and ordering, with software solutions allows your operation to remain flexible and responsive to customer purchasing trends while minimizing waste on the shelf. Streamline your workflows and increase efficiencies across your operation by partnering with Success Systems, a software solutions provider able to support you across every aspect of your convenience store operation.

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